The Lion King V: Jadi's Rule
by Kovukono
Summary: The king is dead, murdered by his own son. His son begins his own merciless rule, and fathers an heir to succeed him. The kingdom fears the cub will be just as bad as his father, but his life has been destined to make him something much worse...
1. Jadi

In order to fully understand this, you will need to have read my TLK IV. All characters in this story are mine, with the exception of Rafiki, Kovu, Kiara, Simba, Mufasa, and Nala, who are copyrighted to Disney, and Aiheu, who is John Burkitt and David Morris's character.

Also, this is not a child-friendly story, due to violent and somewhat explicit parts. This chapter isn't too bad, but later ones might be. This story definitely deserves the T rating.

oOo

The Lion King V: Jadi's Rule

Chapter I: Jadi

A cheetah sat in front of the opening of the den of Pride Rock. As a species, cheetahs were very proud, noble creatures. They rarely showed any sign of fear. They did_ not_ tremble. This one was doing a wonderful job of being an exception.

Simo was had noted all of the changes occurring in the Pridelands. It was his job. There had been few changes, other than the kingdom being much richer in life than before. But with the lush grass came a price. The Pridelands now attracted visitors, all of the worst kind. Killers were accepted, filth allowed to mingle. The lionesses did nothing. They could do nothing.

Simo's father had tried to. As soon as he had heard what Jadi had done to Fujo, he'd attempted to do the same to Jadi. Simo would never forget the fear in his father's face as he slowly had his life taken away from him by a seething black mass. All Simo could do was stare in horror as Nadhari died, screaming. Simo remembered how Jadi had laughed, then turned to him and said with a horrible smile, "It looks as if you're the new advisor."

Simo walked a thin line. Any step across it and he would meet the same end as his father, or worse. He'd seen what happened to those who Jadi didn't favor. Those who displeased the king, be they good or evil, died almost instantly. Even his most reliable servants had died by Jadi's paw, his most cruel minions, all because they had been unable to restrain themselves, and had affected the delicate balance Jadi had imposed on the kingdom. Jadi had no favorites. There were a few who pretended to be in the kings good graces, who pretended to have his ear. Usually their cockiness led them to an early grave. Jadi showed no mercy.

Simo remembered the first time the animals had come to Jadi. Under Fujo's rule, it was almost a democracy. He let all animals have their say, even more than Kovu, Simba, or Mufasa had. But it stopped with Jadi. The representatives for the species had come up to him on the second day of his rule, allowing a customary day to grieve. They had come with their problems, their demands, their solutions that none of them could agree on. Jadi simply said, after listening to them for a few short moments, "Leave."

The animals were stunned. One little zebra pointed out, "Fujo always let us do it this way."

"Fujo is dead, as are his foolish notions of ruling. You will bow to me."

"But that's just not how it's done," protested a leopard.

"It is now."

They had tried to protest further. Jadi had listened for roughly two seconds longer before killing the "impudent" zebra with a sudden flash of black matter going straight through him. All talking stopped. "You have ten seconds to leave." He didn't give them those ten seconds. In ten seconds, they were all dead, or well on the way to becoming so. Jadi didn't let them leave. Jadi didn't play fair. The entire experience only served to amuse him.

Simo felt he had a good reason to tremble.

The trembling ceased out of force as a black-maned figure walked out of the den. Simo bowed low as the king walked to the edge of Pride Rock and sat down. Simo waited for Jadi to signal him to begin. Jadi finally spoke. "What do you think of the kingdom, Simo?"

"Sire?"

"Tell me."

"It—it is magnificent," said Simo. "I've never seen it so healthy, so full of life. You truly should be proud of it, sire."

Jadi turned around with a smile. "Really? Is that all that you think?" Simo hesitated. "Come now, I'm asking for your opinion. Your _honest_ opinion."

Simo stared at the dangerous smile. "Sire, I don't think you would like it."

"I'm almost sure I won't. Now tell me." Jadi's voice had become dangerously pleasant.

Simo paused. "I—You disgust me, Jadi. What I've seen you do is—horrible. You run an efficient kingdom, but there is no happiness. We are all very, very frightened. And the pain you cause us to endure . . . I loathe you entirely, sire." If he hadn't been in Jadi's presence, Simo would have cringed with fear of the rebuke. But Jadi did not tolerate weakness.

Jadi's smile remained. "This is how you truly feel?"

Simo hung his head. "Yes, sire."

Jadi walked off of the tip of Pride Rock. "It's good to know you can be honest." The smile grew wider. "Just as I know you would _love_ to kill me, how you would relish the opportunity." Jadi paused.

"It's—true, sire."

Jadi laughed. "So long as your feelings don't make you forget your place." He walked past Simo to an obviously pregnant lioness that was completely, utterly black. It rubbed against Jadi in a way that made it seem it would rather do nothing else. Jadi gave it a kiss and then said, "Report."

Simo watched as Jadi thoroughly gave his attention to the lioness. "The kingdom runs well, sire. Good amounts of everything, no animals warring. Just a few minor incidents I thought you'd like to handle personally. Tiifu over-hunted yesterday, far too many kills to eat. Janja says that he'd like to talk to you about an important matter concerning the herds; he and his son should be here soon. Maafa says the job you asked him to carry out has been handled. Other than that things are—fairly quiet, sire."

Jadi nuzzled the lioness some more. "What do you think, Uchu?"

Uchu smiled. "I think he's holding out on us."

Jadi smiled. "Yes I know. What could it be?" He went back to Uchu.

Simo stared at the ground. "Sire . . . someone besides Janja would also like to speak with you . . . one of the cheetahs."

"Which one?"

"Her name is Tama, sire."

Jadi looked at Simo, surprised. "Your mother?"

"Yes, sire."

"Hmm. Interesting. What about?"

"It's about—me, sire. She wouldn't tell me any more."

"Well. This day could be some fun, after all." Jadi continued to stroke Uchu. It wasn't as though the open affection bothered Simo. He had seen the pair indulge in sensuous displays of full pleasure, and still was forced to go on with his report. If anything bothered him, it was Uchu, who was desirable, even to him, a cheetah. Which was like saying Jadi had just a few small flaws. Uchu's being a constant source of pheromones in the morning didn't help him. The only thing that stopped Simo was the fact that advancing on Uchu was certain suicide. She would kill him without a second thought. That and the fact that she was just as bad as Jadi. Jadi nuzzled the lioness one last time and started down the ramp of Pride Rock.

"Sire!" Jadi stopped in mid-step.

"Yes, Simo?"

"About my mother . . ."

Jadi turned to face Simo. "Choose your words carefully."

"Sire . . . please be gentle. For me."

Jadi smiled and continued on his way. Simo felt his hopes crash as he saw the jagged edges inside that smile. He watched Jadi go for a moment, then followed Uchu into the den. Lionesses lied all around it, some with cubs, others without. A gigantic lion lied in the back of the den, his size intimidating even though he was lying down. Simo stared around at all of he unhappy faces as he walked to two lionesses and sat down by them. He ignored the carcass at his feet as the pain slowly closed in on him. His body shook with sobs. His mother didn't have a hope.

oOo

One Year Earlier

Fujo's paws clutched at his throat as his lungs heaved in air. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes wild with fear. "Jadi," he whispered. He put a paw to his throat. It seemed to be fine. He could breathe. He drew the paw away. No blood, no anything. _What is going on?_ he thought. He looked up at the place he was in.

The place was entirely white. Fujo's mind staggered as it tried to get some sense of proportion. Then it decided staggering wasn't good enough and decided to reel instead. Then it decided reeling wasn't all it was cracked up to be and went back to staggering. There was nothing he could judge distance against, and absolutely no concept of up or down. Then he saw a—thing standing a small distance away. "Well, come on," it said. "We haven't got all eternity, you know."

Fujo began to walk towards it. The animal was frightening, but it didn't even scare Fujo at all. Fujo idly wondered why. The animal had the face of a leopard, the mane of a lion, the body of a cheetah, and its hind legs and tail were black and orange. Its paws seemed to have characteristics of all four of the animals it was made of, one for each. Even more bizarrely, it had wings, gigantic wings erupting from its back. Fujo approached it, and sat down in front of it. "Name?" it asked.

"Uh, Fujo."

A rectangular object that Fujo had never seen anything like appeared out of thin air. The animal opened the hard outside revealing softer, thinner white things on the inside. It began to flip through the white things almost until it had gone through the entire object. Then the animal finally muttered, "U's." It flipped a few more of the white objects over, Fujo noting wiggly lines on the white things, some in gold, some in black. The animal finally spoke up. "Sorry, we don't have an Uhfujo listed."

"No, no, it's not Uhfujo. Just Fujo."

"Oh." The animal began turning the white things over in the opposite direction. "F's. . . . Ah, here we are." The animal pointed to a set of squiggly lines in gold. "Alright then. Proceed right through there." A rectangular box appeared, showing a lush savannah. The animal smiled. "Welcome home."

"Thanks." Fujo walked through the rectangular box, emerging into a beautiful savannah. He heard a voice.

"Fujo?"

Fujo turned around, expecting to see a rectangle leading back into the white place. Instead, the rectangle was gone, a vast savannah taking its place. His mouth opened in disbelief, and tears began to stream down his face.

"Well, come here already."

Fujo ran joyously to his welcoming committee. "Granddad!"

Simba laughed as his grandson tackled him. "Glad you remember."

Fujo got off Simba and happily nuzzled Nala. "I've missed you both so much."

"And you don't seem to miss me at all, do you?" Fujo turned to see Kovu standing there with a smile.

Fujo stepped toward Kovu incredulously. "Dad?" Kovu smiled and nodded. "What—what are you even doing here?"

"I'm dead, Fujo. Isn't that obvious?"

"But—but you're not. You can't be. You left."

"I just disappeared, right?"

"Yeah."

"Jadi killed me."

"Oh, no . . . you, too?" Kovu nodded sadly. "I can't believe it. . . . He was such a good cub."

Kovu smiled. "One thing you learn up here, and fast, is not to dwell on your mistakes. Come on, son. Get happy. Things will turn out fine. They always do."

"Yeah . . ." Fujo looked back at Simba and Nala, both of whom were smiling at him. A thought struck him. "Everyone's up here?"

"Yep."

"Where's Taraju?" Simba and Nala looked away. Fujo turned back to his father. "Well? Isn't he here?"

Kovu sighed. "Yes. Yes, he is. But he's—busy."

"Can we go see him?"

A tear slid down Kovu's face. "Maybe later."

"I'll take him," said Simba. Another rectangle opened, revealing a small, enclosed space. "Come, Fujo." Simba stepped through. Fujo turned back to Kovu.

"He'll take you to Taraju." Fujo gave his father one last look before stepping through. It was a small, dark place. Simba was conversing with another one of the animals that Fujo had seen before.

"That's right. Him." The animal disappeared, and another rectangle opened across the room, showing only darkness. A lion stepped through it into the room.

"Taraju?" Fujo asked tentatively. The lion smiled. "What are you doing here? In this place?"

Taraju walked towards Fujo, then stopped and sat down abruptly. "I'm being punished."

"Punished? Why?"

"Why do you think? For what I did. I'm lucky to even be allowed visitors. You have no idea what I went through to see you when you were alive."

Fujo walked toward him. "But you changed. You did your best to pay for—ow!" Fujo stopped as his head bumped into an unseen wall. "What was that?"

Taraju smiled. "You have to remember—I'm a dangerous killer. Who knows what horrible things I'd do to you if this wall wasn't here?" He put his paw sadly on the wall.

"But you wouldn't. I know you wouldn't."

Taraju's smile turned sad. "Yes. You know it, I know it, they know it. This is just another way to punish me. I can't touch the ones I love most. All I can do is watch . . . just watch like their faces are miles away . . ." He shed a tear.

Fujo placed his paw opposite Taraju's, a perfect match. "I can't believe this."

Taraju's face turned ugly. "If I ever see Aiheu, I'm going to kill him."

"Taraju," cautioned Simba.

"Damn it, it isn't fair!" Taraju exploded. "I paid for what I did! I didn't even think what I did was wrong! I didn't know any better!" He stood up angrily. "Why should I have to suffer like this? Don't you think I've suffered enough?!"

"Because you changed is the only reason you're being allowed freedom."

"I can't take this anymore! I'll be in there forever! He said so himself!"

"Just a few more decades," said Simba. "Just a few more and you'll be out."

"You wouldn't say it like that if you were in there! Every moment is an eternity of hell!"

"You just have to wait."

Thin vines began to creep snakelike out of the rectangle of darkness. Taraju looked at them bitterly. "And here come my keepers." One began to wrap itself around his hind leg. He shook it off with, "I can find my own way back!"

"Come, Fujo," said Simba. "Another time. But now we have to go." A rectangle opened to the savannah again. Simba stepped through it. Fujo followed him and stopped just before rectangle. He looked back at Taraju's angry face sadly, then stepped through. After he left and the rectangle disappeared the anger disappeared from Taraju's face to be replaced with fear and sadness. Weeping, he walked back into the darkness.

oOo

The horrible scream came again. Laughter followed. Simo ran to their sources to find Jadi over a cheetah, claws extended and paws stained with blood. The cheetah stared at Simo in desperation. "Simo," she begged weakly, "help me."

Jadi laughed. "No one can help you." He hit the cheetah again, causing her to cry out in pain again.

"Sire!" said Simo.

Jadi turned from the cheetah to Simo, his face ugly. "What is it?" he asked irritably.

"Sire—she's . . ."

"Out with it!"

"She's in labor, sire."

Jadi stared at Simo for a moment before running off for Pride Rock at full speed. Simo rushed to his mother. She looked up at him, her face pained. "Simo . . . I should have listened to you . . ."

Simo cradled her face in his paw, doing his best not to notice the cuts on her face and the excessive amounts of blood she lied in. "Don't talk. You'll be fine. Just don't talk. Relax. Relax." Tama let out a slow breath. "Don't worry. You'll be—you'll be fine." Simo began to cry as he stared at his mother's glassy eyes. "You'll—you'll be just fine. Just . . . just . . ." Simo broke down, weeping. "_Damn_ you, Jadi!!"

oOo

Jadi rushed up the stairs of Pride Rock. Anything foolish enough to be in his way on the way there had died. Horrible thought raced through his mind of Uchu's screams and groans as she gave birth. And gods—two months premature on top of that. He ran into the den, stopping when he saw Uchu. There between her paws lied a small cub, newly born. But that was all the care Uchu gave to it. It simply lied there on the cold floor, shivering. Uchu stared down at the cub proudly. She looked up at Jadi. "He's here."

"I was so worried for him," said Jadi. "After only two months . . . that's not normal, is it?"

Uchu smiled. "I'm not normal."

Jadi nuzzled her. "Yes, I know." He stared down at the cub. It was a small, tan cub, slightly darker than the normal light cub. He had had a black swath of fur that began in his right hind leg's thigh and arched over his back to completely cover his left foreleg in black. A small piece of it stretched out from his shoulder to run underneath his neck, ending in a sharp point.

"Nafsi," said Uchu.

Jadi smiled. "A wonderful name." The cub gave a more pronounced shiver. "Shouldn't you keep him warm?"

"Yes, I suppose. I'd rather just stare at him, though." Nevertheless, Uchu wrapped her paws around the cub and drew it close. She began licking it with her tongue. "He's perfect. In every way."

"I imagine all mothers feel that way."

"I mean it. He truly is. Look over there." She nodded towards a tiny cub, obviously dead. The cub's body was mutilated; it even was missing a leg, just a stub taking its place. If it had lived, it would probably have lived a horrible, miserable life. "There's what I had to get rid of for him." Uchu spoke as if she was referring to a filthy carcass. She nuzzled her cub. "Absolutely perfect." She looked up at Jadi with a smile. "He'll make a wonderful heir." She stood up, the cub giving a small whimper as it lost its source of warmth. "I want to show you something."

Jadi looked at her, concerned. "Should you be walking?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Come with me." She began to walk out of the den, Jadi following her. She stopped at the mouth of the den. "Oh, and take care of the prince," she said to the den in general. She walked out, her head held high.

After she left a lioness approached Nafsi slowly. Her heart went out to the poor thing as it shivered on the floor of the den, no one even remotely close to it. She walked over to Nafsi and nuzzled him. Another lioness burst out, "Taabu! What do you think you're doing? That's his son!"

"We can't just let him die, Tumai," Taabu protested.

"I don't see why not!"

"What do you think Jadi would do to you if he heard you speak that way? To all of us? Besides," she said, turning her attention back to Nafsi, "I refuse to make the same mistakes my sisters did." She picked up her grandson by the scruff of his neck and carried him back to her corner by Tumai. She cuddled and licked it, and slowly the cub's shivering stopped.

"You're a damned fool," said Tumai.

"Maybe." After a short time Nafsi fell asleep.

oOo

Jadi followed Uchu on a familiar route through the Pridelands. He followed her into a cave. The entire area around the cave was completely off limits to any animal without Jadi's explicit permission, i.e., they were dead if they came near it. Jadi walked into the familiar cave, a pool of dark liquid in the center. It could have been called water, but water never, ever behaved like this did. There was a hole in the ceiling, but no light penetrated into the cave, from the ceiling or the entrance. Jadi smiled as he walked in, a wonderful feeling of strength gripping him. Uchu sat down with a smile, Jadi sat down next to her.

The form of a sitting lion suddenly grew out of the pool. An obvious aura of power surrounded him. The lion was strong, muscular, obviously quite powerful in that respect. His face was one that showed no pity at all. Not a hint of a hint of mercy appeared in his cold, black eyes. The eyes were barely distinguishable in color from the fur. The lion was completely black; the pool could only project that color. Only the variations in hue showed what would truly be dark and what would be light. For example, what was obviously quite black was an arching stripe that contrasted with the lion's lighter fur.

Jadi stared at the lion in amazement. "This . . . is my son?"

Uchu's smile grew wider. "Yes." She watched as Jadi began to walk around the image of the lion, looking over it thoroughly, the lion never moving. "I told you I bore you the perfect cub. I didn't lie. He will be strong, powerful . . . Oh, the power he'll have. He will make what you do now seem like simple tricks, something to be sneered at. He will only be limited by his imagination . . ." Uchu stared at the figure in—awe? Pleasure?

"This is amazing," whispered Jadi. "That simple cub will become—this?"

"Yes. All he needs is someone to mentor him, guide him . . ." She rubbed against Jadi as he came back around to her side. "Someone who can _really_ show him what it means to be a king." She licked Jadi. "King of everything."

Jadi stared at her in disbelief. "The entire world?"

"All of it." Uchu turned back to the lion. "All he needs is a little guidance . . ."

Jadi smiled. "I won't have a problem with that."

Uchu smiled and cradled the lion's face in her paw. "Just a few more years . . ."

"Years?" said Jadi, surprised.

"Yes. He will grow slowly." She turned back to Jadi, still smiling. "All the better for you." She nuzzled him, and felt him do the same.

"What about the kingdom?" Uchu stared up at Jadi with adoring eyes. "I still need to take care of that. And raising Nafsi . . . How will I do it?"

Uchu rubbed against him, nipped his neck gently with her teeth. "All you have to do is ask."

"Ask?"

"Of course. I've told you time and again, and you still don't believe me. The pool is yours to use. It can give you anything. Just ask." She smiled and backed away from Jadi as he stepped toward the pool, the lion falling back into the pool.

Jadi stared at the familiar water. He placed a paw in it, feeling a familiar feeling of power and lust. He quelled the feelings momentarily as he thought. _I need someone to help_. _Someone to help me rule_. _Someone who will know how to train Nafsi_. _Someone_, he thought with a grin, _like me_. He opened his eyes and stared at the water. It was motionless. He turned back to Uchu. She smiled.

"Believe." Jadi looked back at the water. There was still nothing. Then without warning, a paw shot up through the water and slammed down hard on the surface. Jadi stepped back in alarm. He felt Uchu's soothing touch. "Don't worry," she said. Her eyes were closed in pleasure. Another paw followed. Then, slowly, a lion's body emerged from the water. The lion stood still, taking in a deep breath. It finally opened its green eyes with a malevolent smile.

Jadi stared at the lion with its scar on his face. It looked like—but it couldn't be. "Scar?" Jadi asked hesitantly.

The lion spoke. "Akasare." He took in another breath, closing his eyes. "Freedom."

Jadi looked back at Uchu, her smile knowing. "I think you'll find him satisfactory."

Jadi turned back to see the lion smiling. "You're—Akasare?"

"I said that, didn't I?" the lion said.

"Yes—but don't you mean Taraju?"

Akasare laughed. "I hardly think so. I return as I should—without any of his pathetic limitations. I suppose I have you to thank for it."

"Yes," said Jadi, his astonishment fading away as he slowly looked the lion over. It was obvious that the lion in front of him knew what pity was, and compassion, and kindness. He shunned them all. Jadi's face slowly twisted into a smile. "Yes. Yes, I think you're exactly what I needed."

"I have no doubt about that. I guarantee I'll get your job done." Akasare strode past Jadi and Uchu into the outside, staring at the lush savannah. He looked back to Jadi. "You've made improvements."

"I'd like to think so." Jadi stared at Akasare, unsure of what the lion would do next. Akasare set off towards the boundaries. "Where do you think you're going?"

Akasare turned back to Jadi. "I'm not like her," he said, nodding at Uchu. "I may have come from that pool, but I am _not_ one of your playthings." Jadi snarled at him. "Go ahead, do your worst. We'll see how long you live." He turned and continued towards the borders. Suddenly thick black cords sprang from the ground, wrapping around his legs. Akasare tried to move them, finding the cords only gripping tighter if he did. He laughed and looked over his shoulder at Jadi. "Alright, you've proved your point." The cords loosened themselves around Akasare's legs, allowing for some freedom of movement but not letting him move however he wished. "Sire, you misunderstood me. I am not to be treated like one of your pathetic little minions. I am the best you could possibly have. I will serve you, but I demand respect."

"And why should I believe you?" asked Jadi skeptically. "You were just about to walk out of here."

"Sire, you have done an amazing thing for me. I'm free from torture you couldn't begin to imagine. I owe you, and I always pay my debts. I just want some time to look around. I'm sure you can understand that death tends to make you enjoy simple pleasures."

The cords slowly slunk away from Akasare's legs. "Make sure you come back," warned Jadi. "Or I _will_ find you."

"Don't worry about me, sire," said Akasare with a smile. "I can take care of myself." He continued on his way towards the borders.

"I don't trust him," said Jadi.

"Of course you don't," said Uchu. "How could you possibly expect someone you can trust to know how to teach your son?" Jadi was still unconvinced. "Believe me. Have I ever been wrong before?"

Jadi looked down at her with a smile. "Not about anything I regret."

oOo

Akasare walked into the Outlands. The red-orange ground carried back memories of his cubhood. His simple beginnings, just scrounging for food, all the way to creating a land out of nothing. He stared down into the basin, small traces of brown mixing into the red-orange. He was disgusted. The entire place was a barren wasteland. Nothing grew. He walked down into it, his anger slowly rising.

Three years of his life, three hard, thankless years, all down the drain, most likely in less than two months.

He looked around, seeing little pieces of dead grass here and there, and even the occasional broken stump. He found a tree that was still standing, completely dead. Akasare swung his paw at it in anger, his claws breaking it in two. He would not waste this second chance. He would rebuild. But it would take time, time he couldn't have right now. But in just a few years he wouldn't have to worry. He would come back, and rebuild better than before. And he would have wonderful, amazing help on his side.

He smiled.

oOo

"You are a jura."

Jadi slowly circled around the lion. He hadn't wanted to bring in another lion. He'd been more than just a little reluctant. But Tiifu had proved he was worth it. He stayed away from the lionesses generally, stayed away from Pride Rock except when summoned and on very few personal occasions, and had generally behaved himself. But he'd pushed the line, constantly. This was just too far. Thus the reason he was literally shaking in fear. Jadi circled him, disgusted. He despised weakness.

"What are you?"

"A jura, sire," answered Tiifu in a voice that shook to match his body.

"You have made me look like a jura as well. I don't like that."

"Yes, sire."

"Why did you hunt yesterday?"

"I—I was hungry, sire."

"Wouldn't you say that twenty carcasses are generally ample?"

"Yes, sire."

"I warned you, did I not? I told you not to overhunt, not to bully the subjects unless asked, not to be the arrogant ass you have been. In short, _not_ to be a jura."

"Yes, sire."

"Then why did you do so?"

"I was hungry, sire."

Jadi turned and whipped a paw across Tiifu's face. "If I want lies, I'll ask the lionesses."

"Yes, sire."

"Answer me!"

"I—I don't have a reason, sire."

"You're right. You don't." Tiifu stared at his paws in horror as black—stuff slowly began to envelope them. "You have become nothing more than a reliability to the kingdom."

"Sire," said Tiifu desperately as he slowly began to sink into the black mass beneath him, "sire, please—please, just give me another chance."

"You've had your chance. You've had plenty of chances. And you've thrown them all away." Jadi turned from the struggling Tiifu to see Akasare sitting quietly by the ramp of Pride Rock and watching with a slightly amused face. Tiifu saw Akasare as well and cried out:

"Help me!"

Jadi laughed. "Help you? Why should he help you? He's your replacement."

"No! No!! AHHH!" Tiifu's head sank into the black mass. The darkness disappeared, simply fading away, leaving no sign that it, or Tiifu, had ever been there.

Jadi turned back to Akasare. "I hope you will at least be able to outperform him."

"Yes, sire." Akasare's claws slid out naturally as he looked down the ramp. Jadi watched as Simo came into view. Simo's face was defiant and filled with anger.

Jadi sat back down. "You've been gone all day. Explain yourself."

"If you remember, _sire_," said Simo bitterly, spitting out the last word, "my mother and all three of my little sisters were slaughtered today. I thought they should at least be given minimal honors."

"This is no excuse."

"You're right. There _is_ no excuse for your behavior. I'm leaving. I refuse to be your pathetic little slave anymore." Simo headed back down the ramp, half-hoping Jadi would order him killed. At least he would see his parents again. He wasn't all too surprised to find his legs bound by snakelike-cords that sprang from the ground. He _was_ surprised to find them dragging him backwards. He struggled against them until he was brought face to face with Jadi.

"Is that what you think you can just do?" asked Jadi quietly. "Leave? You can't. None of you can." He reached a paw up to Simo's face. "No one is going anywhere." He dragged a claw across Simo's face, tearing a cruel streak down one side.

Simo tried to pull back, only to find he was leaning as far back as he could possibly go. He snapped at Jadi's paw, almost catching it in his teeth.

Jadi whipped the paw across Simo's face. "We'll have none of that."

"Just kill me, you worthless filth," snarled Simo.

Jadi laughed. "Kill you? Why would I kill you? No, I want to feel the pain; I want you to have to wallow in it." He leaned close to Simo's ear, his voice a whisper. "I want you to live, remembering how your mother begged for me to kill her and not the cubs, how she was forced to watch as I slowly, tenderly tore them apart, how they screamed in pain as I left them to die." Simo thrashed furiously, trying to release himself from the cords. Jadi stepped back with a small laugh. "It seems I've touched a nerve."

"I'll kill you!" screamed Simo. "I'll kill you, you heartless beast!"

"No, you won't. You will go back to your home once I release you, and you will report to me in the morning, and wait here until I come back to punish you for your disobedience today. I'll excuse your current temper on your—instability. I understand losing a parent can entirely change your life. I know."

"And what makes you think I'll do anything like that?" Simo demanded defiantly. "As soon as I'm free, I will _kill_ you."

"I'd love to see you try. Like father, like son."

"Then I'll leave. I won't ever bow to your disgusting self again."

Jadi smiled. "Yes. You'll leave, and end up just like Haja." Simo cringed, remembering how the elderly lioness had tried to escape, going further and further out of the boundaries, darkness slowly swallowing her up until she was wading in it, then swimming in it, until her head was finally sucked under.

Jadi laughed at his obvious discomfort. "Of course, if you're really are that intent on leaving, I suppose I should give you something to remember me by." He walked into the den, reappearing with something in his mouth. He dropped it at Simo's bound paws with an evil smile. "She was delicious."

Simo stared at the tail on the ground, remembering how it had belonged to his littlest sister. Tears welled up in his eyes, pained with the knowledge that he'd never see her happy, smiling, carefree face again. He began to weep, and sank to the ground as the cords released him. Jadi left Simo to cry over the tail and went into the den, followed by Akasare. Jadi paused before entering, looking back at Akasare. "I assume I won't have either of those problems with you?"

Akasare smiled. "I just want to know when I get to kill something again." Jadi smiled and continued into the den. As soon as Akasare walked in the silence that fell when Jadi entered intensified. Kiara stared at him.

"I don't believe it," she said, her face openly showing the fact.

Several of the lionesses carried horrified faces. "Aka," one of them breathed.

Tumai stared at Akasare in disbelief. "Is—is it you?" Akasare smiled. She ran to him. "Oh, _Taraju!_"

Akasare knocked her to the ground as she leapt to embrace him. Kiara gasped. "Taraju!"

Akasare turned to her, his face annoyed. "I am _Akasare_."

Tumai looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. "No," she said. "No, you're Taraju, you changed. _Please_, tell me you're the same lion."

Akasare shook her off his leg disgustedly. "I'm no different than I ever was. Now get away from me, you filth."

Tumai stared at him in shock. "Taraju . . . you don't mean that. Oh, Taraju, _please_."

Akasare's mouth curled back in a snarl. "Say that again and I'll make sure you regret it."

"Say what, Tara—" Tumai's question was cut short by Akasare's paw across her mouth. She was knocked back down to the ground, unconscious on contact. Akasare looked down at her with disgust, then looked around at the rest of the den. His eyes stopped on the massive lion in the back who was staring at him in horror, his colorless eyes wide. Akasare suddenly laughed, then left the den shaking his head.

Jadi watched him go, then turned back to see Uchu nursing Nafsi, Nafsi too small to understand what just happened, Uchu simply not caring. She looked up at Jadi as he approached her. "He's wonderful, isn't he?" Uchu looked back down at her cub with pride. "He doesn't even make a fuss."

Jadi stared at the suckling cub, remembering the strong, merciless lion he would become. "Yes. Yes, he is."

oOo

Pofu leapt up the side of Rafiki's tree as he had learned to years ago. His visits to the mandrill had become more and more solemn and hopeless. This was easily the most hopeless of them all. Pofu didn't want to lose the mandrill. But he knew what the mandrill would say to Jadi's request.

Rafiki looked up from the ground. He was sitting, thinking of the happier days that had come and gone before Jadi came. But he looked up to see Pofu. He pitied the blind lion for his unseen sight. He had tried to help him hone it over the years, but to almost no success. His teachings were his gift to Pofu instead, the history of the Pridelands he had soaked up. But when Jadi came, it was no longer history they discussed, but memories. Rafiki knew that there would be no more conversations as he looked at Pofu's face. "Hello, my friend."

"Morning, Rafiki. How's the health?"

"Oh, de back again. It just comes and goes." Rafiki gave a chuckle. "Here I am, healer of de Pridelands, and I cannot fix my own backache."

Pofu gave a sad smile. "But you've managed to help just about every animal in the Pridelands."

"Yes, but what about you? Can't you get sick just once for old Rafiki?" They both laughed, the laughter falling off after only a few moments. Rafiki sighed. "The king sent you, didn't he?"

"Yes, Rafiki. Uchu's given birth. And it's a son."

Rafiki buried his face in his hand. "I never thought dis day would come. I am worried, Pofu."

"We all are."

"Dis is one wound I cannot heal."

Pofu looked away from Rafiki. He didn't want the mandrill to see the tears on his face. "The king wants you to give the prince a presentation."

Rafiki walked over to Pofu and put his arm around his mane. "I will go to him."

"You know what he'll do to you."

"Yes. But I have lived a long life. I tink it would not make much difference now if I made de presentation or not. I cannot cure age."

"It'd make a difference to me."

"I know, old friend. I know."

oOo

Rafiki climbed the ramp of Pride Rock, looking into the den. He had helped every lion in there, save two. One he had never seen before, the other had never wanted him. Jadi walked to the mandrill. "I assume Pofu told you what I desire."

"He may have. But de mind, tings tend to slip from it when you are as old as me."

Jadi swallowed the impudence. He still needed the mandrill. "I wish for you to present my son to the kingdom."

"And dat I cannot do."

"And why is that? You have presented numerous great royals to the kingdom. For some reason, my ancestors insisted on a foolish monkey, and you are the only one fit to do it."

"I will not do it, sire."

Jadi was slightly taken aback by the open defiance. "You refuse to obey your king?"

"Sire, de presentation is a ting of happiness. Your son would only tarnish de tradition. You bring no happiness, Jadi."

"The kingdom does not need happiness. The kingdom needs to bow to me."

"And you are wrong, sire. I am sorry for the cub, and I hope he grows into a king dat will make de Pridelands proud, but I will not present him for you."

"Then you are of no use to me." Jadi killed Rafiki then and there, ignoring the gasp from the den. Rafiki was simply swallowed up into a black mass, leaving no trace behind. Jadi turned back into the den, angry. It was the first, last, and only murder that did not bring him pleasure.

oOo

Fujo walked into the dark room. The animal—Fujo still had no name for them—stood up. "Yes?" it asked.

"I'm here to see Taraju."

A rectangular object appeared in the air before the animal. The animal asked idly as it flipped through the white sheets of the object, "Whose permission you got?"

"Permission?"

"Yeah. Have to arrange these visits, you know." It stopped turning. "Here it is." It looked up at Fujo. "Whose authority?"

"Uh, I didn't know I needed any."

"Of course you do. It'd be a madhouse if we didn't have some kind of order. It isn't like They're stupid, you know."

"I didn't know I needed to ask Them."

"You don't have to ask _Them_, just someone with enough authority."

"Can't you just let him out?"

"Sorry, not without permission."

"Please. He's my brother. I just want to see him again."

The animal looked back at his object. "Taraju, right?"

"Yes."

"Hmm . . . special case, huh?" the animal muttered. It raised its voice. "Sorry. Doesn't say he can have visitors."

"But I've seen him before!"

"Says not without permission. Were you with someone?"

"Yes, my granddad."

"He's probably one of those big-shots, then. Either that or he got permission. Sorry."

"Please," begged Fujo. "Please, can't you let me see him?"

The animal licked its lips as its wings twitched. "Rules . . . are rules."

"Please. Can't you bend them, just this once?"

The animal sighed. "You mortals and your imperfections." A rectangle opened, showing deep, dark depths. "Alright. Just a couple of minutes."

"Thank you," said Fujo, relieved. The animal disappeared and Taraju stepped through the doorway, his face utterly spent. Tears welled up in Fujo's eyes. "Oh, Taraju . . ."

"Fujo," he said weakly, "this is all a mistake. I'm not supposed to be in there."

"I know."

"No, you don't. I'm Taraju."

"You're not making any sense."

"I'm Taraju, not Akasare. He's gone now. I'm good, I'm clean, I'm _pure_. I'm not supposed to be punished, he is."

"What do you mean?"

"Akasare's gone. He's left me."

"I don't understand."

"Jadi did it. He brought Akasare back, but not me. I'm _free_. And I'm not supposed to be in here now. You have to do something. I can't go back in there. I just can't." Taraju's voice was hysterical.

"You're not lying?"

"No, just have them look, have them check, and they'll see. Just get me out of here." Taraju pressed his paws against the barrier. "I can't go back. Fujo, I'm going insane."

Fujo stared at the terror etched on Taraju's face. "I'll try," he promised.

Vines began to creep out of the darkness, unnoticed by Taraju. "Please," he begged. "Hurry." Vines began to slowly wrap themselves around his hind legs. He involuntarily dropped his forelegs to the ground as he looked down, and vines began to wrap around those, too. Taraju began to thrash wildly.

"Time to come back," said a dark, haunting voice.

"No!" Taraju yelled. "No! I won't go back! I won't go back!" The voice only laughed. The vines tugged and he fell to the ground, the vines dragging him closer and closer to the darkness. "Fujo—please—help me!" He was dragged into the darkness, his anguished screams ringing in Fujo's ears.

oOo

Pofu hovered next to Jadi. It was still, dark night outside, the den asleep. He didn't know whether or not to risk it. For one year he had lived under Jadi, a guest in his den, his life completely made. He didn't need to do anything; Jadi gave him everything he needed. Food and a den to sleep under. And a life to keep living. All of this at one cost: that he obey Jadi. They had all seen Jadi's terrible powers, how he could kill an animal instantly, or incapacitate him and torture him to death from that point, if he wished. And that could very well happen to Pofu if he did this. His ability to look into minds wouldn't grant him any protection from Jadi. They had all seen from Nadhari's final act what attacking Jadi would bring about.

Jadi feared Pofu, but only slightly. There was one time where Pofu had complete control over him, and that one time he had left Jadi with images that Pofu felt sure that he carried with him to this day. Horrible images of the inside of Pofu's mind, of Pofu's tortured conscience, of Pofu's insane and terrifying dreams. Jadi was undoubtedly scarred for life, though the memories were undoubtedly deeply, deeply suppressed. But he feared Pofu; he would never let Pofu touch him again unless it was absolutely necessary. That fear worked for Pofu now, but it could also be the instrument of his death. Wouldn't it be so much simpler and cleaner to kill the thing that you feared? All he had to do was push Jadi over that limit, and he would die. Instantly.

But Pofu still hoped that Jadi was there in that body somewhere, not just that monster that Uchu had created. He could try to bring that Jadi back, the good, kind one, and he could get rid of Uchu and raise his newborn son properly. For a whole year he had battled with the urge to look for the Jadi he used to know, debating on whether or not to take the risk of being caught by Jadi. And now he stood next to Jadi, staring down at him, wondering what he should do. It was the closest thing he could do. Jadi's chest heaved up and down slowly in a rhythmic sleep pattern, unaware of Pofu's presence. Pofu bit his lip. He slowly, hesitatingly held out a paw, reaching it toward Jadi. He gently pressed it against Jadi's side, and stepped into Jadi's mind.

It was a place of turmoil. Almost every mind was as it went to sleep. There was no logical order, the mind simply wandered, dreaming. Pofu stepped out of the realm of dreams, into Jadi's true mind. It had been so long since he had last stared into it. He was unfamiliar with it. But every mind stayed mostly the same, building on its basic framework. What he did know should be enough to navigate through it. Unless what Uchu had done to him had completely rearranged everything. Pofu prayed that it hadn't.

He stared down a long corridor that ended abruptly, the entrance to Jadi's memories. He would have to be extremely careful, he realized as he walked to the end of the corridor. He didn't want to wake anything. The end lit up into bright, white light. Pofu stepped through it. It was as he expected. The mind became more and more tangled as it grew with experience unless one categorized, as he had. But Jadi hadn't.

Every mind was different in how it was designed, but almost every one had complete chaos. The entire place was a mess of bending physics, stairs going up—and stairs going down on the opposite side, even stairs going sideways. These were paths to every memory that Jadi had, every idea that he had ever created. Every single memory existing almost like an animal, with a consciousness and an ability to think on its own, to grow. But Pofu wasn't looking for a memory or an idea. He was looking for a personality.

He began to walk the stairs, traveling further and further into the depths of memory. The stairs continued to shift as the mind brought new memories and ideas to the forefront of Jadi's consciousness, the platforms that the stairs connected to moving, distorting, even disappearing, the stairs curving wildly to meet another platform, Pofu sometimes walking on top of them, sometimes defying gravity to walk upside-down, whichever way the stairs dictated.

As Pofu went deeper, the stairs and platforms changed less and less, the older, deeper memories being touched much less than the newer, current ones. Millions of platforms were met, each one with a creature there inside a walled area, bars allowing him to look inside, usually at something dark and horrible. As he went deeper into Jadi's mind the things became more lighthearted, slowly, and then with an abrupt and obvious change. Things were so much less dark. The creatures became less dark, almost normal, but still less evil than before.

He looked inside one cell just after the change to see not a creature there, but Jadi, a younger Jadi, a Jadi that had not yet reached adulthood. Pofu stopped by it, staring at it. Jadi stared back at him insolently. He was bitter, unrepentant of the things that he had said. But he wasn't the monster he would turn into. This must have been Jadi just before Uchu had forced him into her ways of thinking—a moody, spite-filled youth, filled with Uchu's ideas about what life should be, but not quite letting go of the ideals that his parents had filled him with when he was just a little cub. Pofu went on.

Pofu's mood sank as he went deeper, seeing the creatures inside the cells become happier, more carefree. It was utterly depressing how far Jadi had gone. These were happy things, things that would have made animals laugh. It nearly brought Pofu to tears to find them here, discarded, left to rot in these cells, never to be brought up again. They were pleasant creatures, who would have made one laugh with joy if they hadn't been so long without attention.

The creatures looked up at him hopefully as he approached their cells, their heads looking out at him from behind the small window the bars made. They would smile, the smiles fading as he walked on, the creatures hanging their heads in despair, shedding tears with the knowledge that they would never be released to bring anyone enjoyment again. Pofu wanted to fling open the doors, to set them all free—but doing so would only send Jadi spiraling down into insanity.

Pofu stopped at another platform. A miserable cub looked up at him, its blood-red eyes filled with sorrow. It was tied to the floor, its legs having vines wrapped around them. Pofu looked at Jadi as he thought he'd only see him in his own memories: a cub, a pure, innocent little cub.

Pofu went inside the cell, the cub staring at him. "Pofu?" asked Jadi. Pofu nodded. "You're looking into my mind, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Jadi lowered his head, staring at the floor. "It's so dark here. It's—bleak. I think that's the word. I don't know. It's—hopeless. Like what I saw in your mind."

"You must not think of that, Jadi," said Pofu. "Anything but that."

Jadi looked up at Pofu. "What did you want?"

"I—I wanted to bring you back. To make you innocent, to bring back the happy Jadi."

"I haven't been used in years," Jadi said, shaking his head. "You probably have something like this in your head, a little cub that won't ever be free. And you suppress it."

"I don't. This happens when there is a radical change. When something happens that changes the animal completely, almost in an instant. This most likely happened when you first discovered the pool. You said you drank some."

"I did. It was one of the last things I did do. Then I was pushed aside."

"But I am not like that. There was no radical change for me. There is only my conscience that is there, that I banned."

"Yes. I met him. Don't you remember?" One of the walls lit up, a hate-filled, angry lion standing over him, a cruel grin as he stared down at the viewer.

"Jadi, stop thinking of that."

The image shut off. "I'm sorry. I've just been down here so long. I can only think of these horrible things, Pofu. Those things I saw in your mind." Brief, quick images flashed across the walls. "It's so lonely."

"Jadi, please, think happy thoughts," begged Pofu. "I'm going to try to set you free, to let you control the body again. Isn't that happy?"

"I'm not sure I have any happy thoughts, Pofu," Jadi whispered. "I'm so miserable." More images flashed across the walls. A lioness with an insane grin on her face that went literally from ear to ear; a horrible, dark pool drowning the viewer; a cub dangling a lion off a cliff by his paws. Pofu watched the flashes with fear. If they were enough to wake up the real Jadi . . .

"Jadi, stop thinking of this," pleaded Pofu. "Please."

Jadi looked up at him. Pofu could see in his eyes how he wasn't completely there, how the long years of solitude had begun to take their toll on the personality. "And cold," Jadi quoted. He gave a small laugh, the laugh slightly betraying how unhinged he had become. "And cold, and dark, and no stars and cold and hurt oh hurt oh hurt." He laughed, the madness clearly there. "Like nightmares! Nightmares with teeth! Nightmares with teeth, and claws and biting and scratching and tearing!" Jadi belted out an insane laugh, a horrible, crazed smile creeping across his face. Images continued to flicker across the walls, not stopping now. Jadi rocked back and forth, the laughter ringing. "Nightmares!" he screamed, barely managing to get the word out between the wild laughter. "Nightmares, Pofu! _Nightmares! Complete and utter nightmares!!_"

Pofu saw his mistake. This was useless. There was nothing left of the cub Jadi to salvage; all there was left was utter insanity. He exited out of the door, having it shut behind him. Jadi's wild laughter still echoed out of the room, the laughter the only relief the poor, tortured cub had had for years of imprisonment with no hope of escape.

The laughter rang out through the place Pofu was in. Platforms began to fly up past him, dragging up horrible memories, Jadi's maniacal laughter never stopping for an instant. Pofu leapt onto one, using it to climb to the top much faster than he would have been able to by walking through all those stairs again.

He turned as he heard a terrible roar behind him. He turned to see a monster out of his own consciousness inside the cell on the platform, a horrible, snarling beast with jagged teeth, begging to rip him to shreds, pounding on the door, trying to break it down. Pofu was unnerved by the creature.

The place where he had started grew closer and closer, the white light leading out of the memory chamber drawing thankfully closer. Pofu leapt off the platform as soon as he was near enough. He hit the ground running, a platform ahead of him and a platform behind him, all of them going to Jadi's dreams. He burst into Jadi's unconscious and almost immediately leapt out of his mind.

Pofu breathed heavily. The experience had shaken him. He had to get back to where he was and act as if he had always been asleep. He removed his paw from Jadi. Jadi was twitching, moaning. Pofu began to back away, intending to escape unscathed. Jadi's eyes snapped open as he thrashed upward, awaking. His breathing was panicked. Pofu froze.

Jadi's eyes landed on him. "_You!_" he hissed, quietly enough to not wake the den. Pofu was dragged forward by black matter, trying to escape. "What did you do to me?" demanded Jadi in a voice that was quiet, but filled with rage.

"Nothing," said Pofu. "Nothing, I swear."

"Look at your mother," hissed Jadi. Pofu's head snapped to where she slept, alarmed. Nyota was covered in darkness, completely swallowed up, gone in an instant. Pofu couldn't suppress a gasp. His head snapped back to Jadi, wanting to kill him. "And if you _ever_," hissed Jadi, "come _anywhere_ near me again without my _explicit_ permission, I will see to it that you suffer a horrible, painful death! Is this _clear?!_"

Jadi didn't wait for an answer. Pofu found himself being dragged back to his sleeping place. He looked at his legs, surprised to see them moving this way. He looked up at Jadi to see him storming from the den, shaking with rage and fear. Pofu lied down with a sigh. A tear slid from his face. He'd tried. Jadi really was gone.

oOo

_Please review_. _It's really appreciated_.


	2. Taabu

**A/N: From here on out things might need a more severe rating. If you think so, please tell me and tell me why. Once again, please R&R.**

Chapter II: Taabu

A lion walked around the kingdom, a small, cub with a black stripe that arched over his back next to him. The lion spoke. "Look at it, Nafsi. Isn't it magnificent?"

"Yes, Father."

"And someday, it will be yours."

"Yes, Father."

"You must remember, Nafsi, that kindness will lead you nowhere. You need strength, not pathetic weakness. You must rule these lands with a paw of stone. Your subjects will try to influence you, to tell you what is right. They know nothing. There are very, very few that you can trust to actually know something. Keep them close."

"Yes, Father."

"Remember, they are subjects." Jadi paused, waiting for a response.

"They are subjects in every sense of the word. They exist to serve only. _We_ are the ones who matter."

"Good, my son. Excellent." Jadi ascended the ramp of Pride Rock, his son by his side. The sun was just beginning to appear over the edge of Pride Rock. Some of the lionesses were up, others weren't. Each of them had at least one souvenir of Jadi's anger, save for Uchu. Jadi and his son walked over to Uchu, Nafsi lying down by her side as Jadi nuzzled her lovingly. Uchu gave Jadi an affectionate lick.

"So, how is the prince doing?" she asked.

"Better. He's learning."

"Of course he is. I told you he would." Uchu looked down at her cub. Nafsi's dark eyes flicked upward to his parents faces. He closed them again and curled up, obviously trying to go to sleep.

"But, just that. Still learning."

"These things take time. You know that."

Jadi sighed. "Yes." He looked around the den. "Where is the breakfast?"

"They're still getting it."

Jadi scowled. "More incompetent every day."

"I know. But I think they at least try a little."

"I can't bother to wait for it. The kingdom comes first." Jadi sighed. Uchu licked him. "Coming again?"

"Of course." Uchu gave one last look to her son, then followed Jadi outside the den. Nafsi's ears perked up as they left the den, followed a few minutes later by an eyelid, then his head. He walked over to a lioness who was still half-asleep. He lied down by her head.

"Grandma?" he asked.

The lioness cracked open an eye. "Oh, it's you, Nafsi." She yawned. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to be with you."

Taabu smiled. "That's sweet." She stretched, then lied back down. "Been out with your father this morning?"

"Yes."

Taabu smiled humorlessly. "And what did you learn today?"

Nafsi smiled back. "Nothing new, really. Just that you're lower than dirt and unfit to even be with me."

Taabu chuckled. "I assume your father used a few more words than that."

"Yes."

"And you're _filthy_. Shame on you."

Nafsi gave her a guilty smile. "I'm a cub. Cubs get dirty."

Taabu smiled. "It's good to know you remember some of what I've taught you. Alright, bath time."

"Yes, ma'am." Nafsi sat down in front of her, his back to Taabu. Taabu began to groom him.

Nafsi sat still, thinking as Taabu's tongue ran over him. Suddenly he squirmed. "Stop it, Grandma. That tickles."

"What, this?"

Nafsi squirmed even more than before. "Yes!"

Taabu chuckled. "Alright." She continued cleaning his back. "Alright, turn over," Taabu finally said. Nafsi turned over onto his back. Taabu began to clean his backside.

"Grandma?"

"Hmm?" she muttered.

"Why don't you like what Dad tells me?"

Taabu stopped grooming. "Well, it's just not right."

Nafsi bent his neck to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"He does teach you some of the right things, but it's just twisted. You're supposed to respect the kingdom, not look down upon it. Didn't I tell you not to put too much trust in what your father teaches you?"

"Well, yeah, but . . . he seems to really believe it."

"No doubt," said Taabu acidly. She resumed grooming Nafsi.

Nafsi kept talking. "I mean, it seems right, what he says. If someone hurts you, you hurt them. It makes sense. And you need to let them know what fear is, otherwise they won't respect you. You need to show them why they should respect the king."

"Taabu, will you shut him up?" muttered a lioness. "Some of us are still trying to sleep."

"Uzuri, can't you hear what he's saying? That's awful."

"It is?" asked Nafsi.

"Frankly, Taabu, I don't give a damn what he spouts so long as I get my beauty sleep." Uzuri turned over.

"Uzuri, I've told you time and again. You could sleep for weeks on end and it still wouldn't help."

"Oh, that's _real_ nice, Mom."

"Go back to sleep."

"I'm trying."

Taabu went back to grooming Nafsi. She was covering his sides now. "Grandma," Nafsi asked, "why is what Dad says awful?"

Taabu stopped grooming for a moment, thinking. She looked down at Nafsi in front of her, his head cocked to the side as it always was when he asked a question. "Hmm . . . Well, here, let me try to show you. Fear is good, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"So how do you cause it?"

"You scare someone. Or hurt them."

"Exactly. You hurt them. And you keep it up, and you don't back down. Eventually, they have so much fear that they're scared to be around you."

"Oh. How do you know that, Grandma?"

"Oh, I've seen it happen. I grew up with it," Taabu said casually. "So, you agree that that's how you cause fear?"

"Yes."

"And the kingdom should want to pay respect to their king, right?"

"Of course."

"Hmm." Taabu placed a paw on Nafsi's chest, then drew a claw down from his chest to his stomach. Nafsi gave a yell of pain. The slash left by Taabu seethed with black wisps, healing up the injury so it looked as if it had never been there at all.

"What was that for?" Nafsi asked angrily.

"You mean you didn't like it?"

"No, of course I didn't!"

"Then why should anyone else want to be hurt, either?" Nafsi stared at her, stunned by the sudden reality. "It's not nice to hurt others. It's not pleasant, and it shouldn't be done. But that's what Jadi wants you to do."

"But . . . but aren't they supposed to give respect to the king?"

"There are other ways to get respect. Besides, all fear brings is hate. They'll only do what you say because of they're afraid of what you'll do. Respect means they do what you ask because they want to please you. Do you respect me any more for having scratched you?"

"Well . . . not really."

"See?"

"But wouldn't they want to please me anyway? So they don't get hurt?" Nafsi looked down at his chest, his expression puzzled. "I don't understand."

Taabu smiled sadly. "Maybe not today. But hopefully you will. Just remember to keep an open mind. Not everything your father says is right, you know."

"But he says it is."

"Are you really confused, or are you trying to get out of your bath? Now either be quiet or don't say things where I have to talk back, please?"

"Yes ma'am." Taabu continued her grooming, Nafsi's mind swirling with all the possible interpretations of what he'd heard. His father and grandmother seemed to differ completely in their views, each one excluding the other. But maybe there was a way in between. Nafsi was so preoccupied he even didn't even realize Taabu had stopped grooming him until she finally spoke to him again.

"Nafsi? Breakfast's here."

Nafsi rolled over and walked over to the carcass he was sharing with his grandmother. He hadn't noticed her getting up to get it. She wasn't at the carcass; he wanted to see what was taking her so long. He walked out from behind the carcass and sat down next to some cubs to see Taabu and several other lions dragging two other fat carcasses into the middle of the den, leaving them there for the king and queen.

Nafsi didn't notice the odd looks the cubs gave him; he was too busy watching the carcasses. When the lionesses were finished two of them looked up at Nafsi and gasped. They walked over to their cubs next to him, and led them away. Nafsi heard something very much like "You should know better than to be around him."

Taabu walked over to the carcass. "Go ahead, start eating," she said.

Nafsi took a bite, chewing it thoughtfully. "Grandma?"

"Mm?"

"Why don't the other cubs ever play with me?"

"You just now realized that?"

"No. But I've been trying to find a reason."

Taabu paused. "Have you asked your mother?"

"No. I thought you said to not trust what she said, though."

"I said to take it with a grain of salt." Taabu tried to think of the easiest way to say it. "Nafsi, they're scared of you. Or at least their parents are. They're scared of your father, and they know he wants you to be just like him."

"Is that what Dad's trying to do?"

"Yes. That's what he's trying to do."

"Why didn't he just say that? I can be like him."

Taabu took another bite, thinking over her words carefully. "Nafsi, would you do one thing for a kind old lioness like me?"

"Course, Grandma."

"Just think twice before you do anything your father tells you. Please."

"And why would he do that?" Taabu turned to see Uchu striding into the den. "Spreading heresy again, are we?" Taabu snarled at her and received a paw in the face. "Respect your queen."

"Of course, your _majesty_."

"Now, how many times have I told you to not interfere with what Jadi teaches?" Taabu muttered incoherently. "I beg your pardon?"

"I said enough."

"It doesn't seem to be enough." Uchu heaved a dramatic sigh. "I've looked it over long enough. But I think I'll have to tell Jadi this time." She smiled at the look of horror on Taabu's face.

"You wouldn't," Taabu whispered.

"You know I would. So I advise you to stay in your place." Uchu strode off towards on of the carcasses in the middle of the den. "Come, Nafsi."

Nafsi followed obediently. Taabu watched him go, tears in her eyes. "Taabu?" asked a lioness gently. "Are you alright?"

Taabu wiped her eyes with her leg. "I'm fine, Tumai."

"Mom," piped up Uzuri, "don't worry. She won't tell Jadi. She'll forget."

Taabu sighed. "Maybe. But that doesn't really matter. I'm worried about Nafsi."

"What about the little thing?" asked Tumai.

"He's not a _thing_. He's got feelings."

"Barely shows it," muttered Tumai.

"And that's what worries me. I mean, he could be even worse than Jadi. I've seen it before."

"Sibu was different. You said he thrived on the stuff."

"He had to be taught it, too. And that's what worries me. I don't want to die knowing that I haven't been able to help Nafsi at all." Taabu sighed. "I don't have that many years left."

"Mom, stop being morbid," said Uzuri. "You're not going to stiff any time soon."

"As for the cub," said Tumai, "there's just no hope for him. You know this, but you still won't listen to us."

"You mean you haven't ever hoped?" Taabu retorted. "He could be decent. Don't you want him to be?"

Tumai suddenly seemed very interested in her paws. "That doesn't mean that I think I can do anything about the little guy. I mean, look where all of your persistence is taking you."

Taabu just stared back at the cub taking bites out of the carcass, his mother watching him closely. Nafsi seemed to straighten up just be having her around. He ate differently, carried himself differently, spoke differently, even walked differently when around his parents. Taabu could only hope it was a sign she was getting somewhere.

"Poor thing."

oOo

Simo was escorting Nafsi home. He often did so after Jadi decided to "enlighten" his son on how to be a "true" king. Simo was worried. If Nafsi took to heart everything that Jadi told him, there would be nothing but suffering as long as Nafsi was king. But the most infuriating part to Simo was that he could do nothing but walk behind them, giving the occasional answer to Jadi when he asked something of Simo. He despised Jadi.

He was still undecided on Nafsi. He still had yet to speak to Simo in anything more than a few sentences, hardly enough to make a judgment on. And always in that same, flat monotone that he answered his father with. He didn't smile, he didn't laugh, he didn't do any of the things Simo remembered doing as a cub.

"Nafsi?" Simo asked.

"Yes?" came the answer from the figure at his side.

"What do you think?"

"About what?"

"What your father has taught you." Nafsi was silent. "If you don't want me to ask, I under—"

"No."

"Very well, sire."

"No, not like that. I meant 'no' as in I don't mind. I was thinking. Sorry."

"Oh. So, what do you think?"

"I don't know." The cub looked up at Simo's face. "It's Simo, right?"

"Yes, sire."

Nafsi seemed to be struggling with something. He finally said, "Stop that, will you?"

"What?"

"The whole 'sire' thing."

"Sire?"

Nafsi gave a small laugh. Simo was amazed. "Yes, that. Please. I know it annoys you, there's no need for it. I think."

"Si—Nafsi, are you feeling alright?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, I've never seen you so . . . emotional."

"Okay, now you've got me confused. I'm not crying, am I?"

"No, it's just . . . you seem to have no feelings. Ever. You're never happy, you're never sad. It's like you don't even have a heart."

"Oh, I do too have a heart." Nafsi looked up at Simo's face. "Really. I think. It's just . . ."

"Do you not want to talk about it, sire?"

"Hey, what'd I say about that?"

"Sorry, si—Nafsi."

"That's right. My name is _Nafsi_. Not _sire_, not _your highness_, not _prince_. _Nafsi_. Just think of that as my title now."

"Yes, Nafsi. But even in front of your father?"

Nafsi considered it. "No," he finally said. He looked up at Simo again. "Just when we're together. I guess, you know, like friends."

"How do you know you can trust me to be your friend? You know what you're father says about the animals you should let sleep in your den."

"But—you're nice to me. Like Grandma. I think you two would like each other pretty well. But . . . well, you know what Dad would do if he saw you disobeying."

"'Dad'? Not 'Father'? Not 'Jadi'?"

"I—I'd like to think that. I mean, he makes time for me besides the kingdom."

"And what do you do?"

"Um . . . well . . . It doesn't happen too often . . . Besides, I don't think I should tell you."

"Then don't. I know what your father can do when he's angry."

"Yeah." There was silence for some time. "Hey, do you want to come in when we get there? I know you never do. Maybe you'd like it."

"Your mother would kill me. Literally."

"Oh, you know she'd never do anything too rash without asking Dad first."

"Please, Nafsi."

"Alright," the cub conceded. "Hey, how about letting me meet your family?"

Simo actually stopped walking. He licked his lips nervously. "I don't think that's a good idea, sire. You wouldn't like it. Besides," he added, "there's no family for you to see." He resumed walking towards Pride Rock, leaving Nafsi behind.

Nafsi scampered to catch up to him. "What do you mean? Everyone has a family. And you've been here, right? You're not like one of those rogues that Dad just picked up, are you?"

Simo sighed. "No, Nafsi. I have a family. Had. Your father had the pleasure of slaughtering them."

"Oh . . . what'd they do wrong?"

"Nothing," Simo said bitterly. "Absolutely nothing. Yes, my father tried to kill him, but that wasn't unjustified. But my mother . . . and my sisters . . . they did nothing. All my mother did was ask for an audience . . . maybe even my freedom . . . and he killed her for it." Tears streamed down Simo's face.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are."

Nafsi decided to take the statement positively. "Dad probably did have a reason, though."

Simo swallowed down the bitter remark he was about to make. "Well, even your father isn't perfect."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Never mind."

"Don't do that. Tell me."

Simo looked down at Nafsi, his concern showing on his face. "You promise you won't tell your father? No matter what?"

"Of course. Just between friends."

"Your father missed one of my sisters."

"Huh? I thought you said he killed them all."

"He nearly did. She was barely alive as it was. He just left them to die. Two of them did die, but Msasi lived."

"So you do have family!"

"Yeah . . . yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Can I go see her?"

"Like I said, that's not a good idea."

"Please? No, even better, I _order_ you to take me."

"Your father almost got himself killed when he was a cub by ordering something stupid like that."

"I'm not Dad. So come on, take me."

"Fine. But you explain to your mother why we're late."

"Deal."

oOo

"So, where is she?" asked Nafsi.

"Don't worry," said Simo. He strode through the grass confidently. "She'll be here. She knows she's not supposed to go too far." He stopped, then said to Nafsi, "Wait here." He disappeared into the grass.

Nafsi obediently sat down, his tail twitching in apprehension. What would she be like? He heard a feminine voice. "Oh, Simo."

"Yes, it's me. . . . How's the pain?"

"Do you always have to ask that? Every time?"

"Sorry." Nafsi heard purring. "It's just . . . well . . ."

"I know."

Nafsi looked up to see a leopard sitting at his side. He knew the leopard from the numerous small scars across his face. Maafa. He was big for a leopard. "Is Simo in there?" he said in that low rumble he used for a voice.

"Uh, yeah. He's bringing out his sister."

Maafa looked down at Nafsi in surprise. "He has a sister? I thought Jadi finished the job." Maafa smiled. "He'll be pleased to know this."

Nafsi looked up at him in surprise. He didn't want to lose his new friend. "No, not sister. I mean—aunt. I don't know where sister came from. Aunt."

"Of course."

Nafsi heard Msasi's voice again. "And don't you _dare_ leave me for that long again. I was worried Jadi did something to you."

Nafsi heard a small laugh. "Don't worry about my job. . . . I brought a visitor for you."

Nafsi heard a gasp of delight. "Really? I've never had a visitor before. Who is it?"

A chuckle. "You'll see." Simo emerged from the grass. "Just wait there." He turned his head to look at Nafsi, seeing Maafa. "What?" he asked irritably.

Nafsi felt Maafa's tail flick against him. "Just seeing if you were around. You should know better to bring the prince into a slum like this."

Simo growled. "My home is perfectly respectable, thank you."

Maafa let out a low laugh. "Of course. By _your_ standards."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you want it to. Her majesty has a job for you."

"Oh, goodie."

"Have a more positive attitude, Simo. Take pride in your work." Maafa smiled sardonically. "Remember, it's your place to _serve_ the kingdom."

"Fine. We'll talk out here. Na—Sire, she's in there, waiting for you."

Maafa's eyes widened slightly at Simo's slip. "Who's waiting?"

"My—cousin. Afriti."

"Cousin, huh?" Maafa looked at Nafsi's body disappearing into the grass. "And what a fine name. Fitting."

"Speak," snarled Simo.

Nafsi made his way through the grass. He couldn't see anything from his point of view. He may have been a year old, but his body was six months old physically. As you can imagine, you can't see anything but legs and stomachs when you're six months old.

He finally emerged into a clearing. A cheetah sat there, slightly older than one year, her scarred, disfigured face eager. The mutilations didn't stop there. Her entire body was disfigured, marked by horrible scars, leaving her entirely bald in some places. A foreleg had no digits at all, merely a bit of paw attached to a leg. She gasped as Nafsi walked into the clearing, her face horrified. "It's okay," Nafsi said gently. "Um . . . are you Msasi?"

"Yes," the cheetah said after a pause, her beautiful voice the only hint of what she might have looked like. "What do you want?"

Nafsi sat down. "Nothing. I'm Nafsi."

Msasi drew in a sharp gasp. "_You!_ How _dare_ you come here!" Her claws slid out unconsciously.

"What do you mean?" Msasi snarled. "I just wanted to meet you." Nafsi remembered what Taabu had taught him about not pointing out embarrassing things, but he decided to do it anyway. "I—I just wanted to say sorry. You know, for what Dad did to you."

"Sorry? _Sorry?_ Do you think _sorry_ is going to help me? _Look_ at me!" Msasi said disgustedly. "I can't even go out among the other cheetahs with any sense of decency! Do you have any idea how much I hate you?!"

"But what did I do?"

"It's enough that you _live_, you little piece of filth. Because of your father, I have to live like _this!_ Hidden, like some immoral thing! I barely see anyone, and never anyone except the other cheetahs! And I didn't do _anything!_"

"But you must have done something. I mean, maybe you just didn't do the right thing for Dad."

"I did _nothing!_ I watched my sisters be slaughtered by that beast you call a father, and he _laughed_. That's right, he _laughed_. He _enjoyed_ killing my mother, my sisters, he _enjoyed_ scarring me like this. And if he even knew I was alive, he'd be back to finish the job." Msasi began to pace angrily. "And I did NOTHING!"

"Hey, uh, just calm down," Nafsi said nervously.

"_Calm down? Calm DOWN?!_ I am _livid!_ Do you have any idea what pain I go through every day?! Never mind the physical, I mean the _anguish_. I cry myself to sleep every night, thinking of ways to torment your father." She turned to Nafsi, her face enraged. "At least now I have something." She advanced on Nafsi.

"What?" Nafsi asked innocently.

"Your death." Msasi swung back a clawed paw to hit Nafsi. Nafsi raised a foreleg in protection as he winced. Msasi brought her leg down, and was suddenly hurled back in a silent, black explosion, her scream the only noise. She hit the ground with a thud, her screams going silent as the wind was knocked out of her. Simo charged in, followed by Maafa.

"What happened?" Simo demanded.

"I—I didn't mean to," said Nafsi. "She just—she attacked—I just tried to defend myself. Like Aka said to."

Maafa laughed his low laugh. "Well, Aka will be happy his lessons aren't wasted. Dead?"

Simo had rushed to Msasi. "No . . . no, she's alive." He stepped back as Msasi slowly got to her feet, her face filled with anger. "What were you thinking?"

"I'll kill you!" She ran towards Nafsi and hit him, tearing gashes into his body as she sent him flying. Simo immediately clipped his sister on the head, sending her to the ground, unconscious.

"Lucky you got there before me," said Maafa. He turned to look at Nafsi, seeing the gashes heal up, black wisps playing over the injuries. "What in death's name is that?" Nafsi got to his feet, perfectly alright. "Well, that's handy."

"Did—did you kill her?" Nafsi asked, a note of guilt entering his voice.

"No. She's just knocked out," said Simo reassuringly.

"I didn't want to hurt her," Nafsi said sadly.

"Sire, you did the right thing," said Maafa. "_And_ you exposed a fugitive. Very nice, sire. We'll make an askari out of you yet. Your father will have some choice words for us." He turned to Simo. "_All_ of us."

"You wouldn't," breathed Simo.

"Well, let's see what the king says."

oOo

Simo paced nervously in front of the cave the next day. Maafa walked up the ramp of Pride Rock. "You know," he commented, "I don't imagine the king will appreciate you wearing a hole in his pretty rock."

Simo stopped, turning to Maafa. "Maafa, please reconsider. Please. She's my _sister_. The only one I have left. Don't you know how that must feel with your siblings?"

"I will not 'reconsider.' I told you I would give you one day. I did. And as for the siblings, I don't have any."

"Well, what about your parents? Don't you have any feelings for _them?_"

"Oh, they're dead."

"See? _See?_ Don't you ever think about that?"

Maafa hung his head with a sigh. "I remember. It happened when I was just two. I watched my father beaten down and killed. My mother went after him pretty quickly." He looked up, a sardonic grin on his face. "Of course, as the one doing the killing, it was pretty hard for me to look away."

"Oh, gods." Simo began pacing again. Sometimes he forgot just how ruthless some of the animals Jadi used were. Of course, he never forgot it for long. He stopped again as he came back to Maafa. "Look, please, I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise. Just please don't tell him."

"No. I'm going to tell him. Of course, if you're smart, you'll tell him yourself when you report."

"Maafa, please, just—"

"Simo, the two animals who have served longest under Jadi are right here. And neither of us got here making stupid mistakes. I'm not liked by him right now, I need all the help I can get. So you're going to tell him, or I'm going to tell him and be ordered by him to tear your lying guts out. And you know I'll do that with nothing more than a 'Yes, sire' and a smile. So I think you know what to do."

Simo began pacing again. "Oh gods oh gods oh gods oh gods . . ."

A few minutes later Jadi came out. Simo had stopped his pacing before; Jadi came out at the same time every day, he knew when to stop. Jadi saw Maafa first. "What are you doing here?" Jadi asked.

"Just here to call on Akasare, sire," said Maafa, sitting at attention. It's almost pointless to point this out, as that was the _only_ way Maafa sat in the presence of Jadi. If he even just discussed business, he still slipped into it. "Of course, sire, I'm also here to carry out orders."

"Hmm." Jadi turned to Simo. "Report."

Simo became very interested in looking at his forepaws flex their digits. "Well . . . um, sire, would you like the bad news first?"

Jadi walked to the edge of Pride Rock. "How about the good news instead?"

Simo looked up at Maafa's smiling face. "Um . . . there is no good news, sire."

Jadi turned around angrily. "What?"

"Well, there's bad news . . . and uh, there's the weather, if you'd like it, sire." Simo half-heartedly smiled, the grin dripping off his face quickly.

Jadi walked over to Simo, his face anything but amused. Simo wasn't surprised to find black mass spreading up his legs. He was surprised when they began to edge up his legs to his chest. Jadi never ceased to find new ways to interrogate, kill, brutalize, maim, torture, or in any other way ruin someone's day. "And just what would this bad news be?"

The black matter was almost completely covering Simo, wrapped around his entire body save for his head and neck, crushing him slowly, the pressure apparent when the mass began to start on his legs. Simo found it difficult to breath. "Sire, please remember, it's not good to kill the messenger." Simo felt breath involuntarily leave him as the black crushed angrily. "Especially if he hasn't delivered the message."

"Then deliver it," hissed Jadi.

Darkness began to cloud Simo's vision. "Cheetah" was all he managed to get out before his head went limp. The black immediately disappeared, forcing Simo to fall to the ground. Simo's body drew in breaths, then Simo became conscious and drew in a huge gasp.

"Having a good day, sire?" Maafa asked innocently.

"No."

"If I may ask, why?"

"Because of my son picking up foolish ideas of mercy in my own den. I have told that wretch time and again to _not_ interfere with my son. She seems to think she has some value for being my mother."

"Taabu—is dead?" Simo managed to breathe out.

Jadi turned back to Simo, annoyance on his face. "No. Just nearly there. And now _you_," he said, placing a paw on Simo's throat, "are going to talk."

Simo looked down at the paw nervously. "Sire, my sister lives."

The paw was removed. "I beg your pardon?"

"My—my sister, sire. The one you tried to kill along with my mother and my other sisters. She's alive."

"Oh, yes. I know."

"You—know, sire?"

"Yes. Of course I do. I know everything that goes on in my kingdom. Even if you don't tell me."

"But—why do you let her live, sire?"

"You mean you want me to kill her?"

Simo sat up. "No, sire."

"Simo, I let you keep her for one reason. You have served me exceptionally well, save for the odd quirk. Wouldn't you say you deserve something in return?"

Simo bowed his head. "Thank you, sire."

"Now, is that everything?"

"Yes, sire."

"Aren't you forgetting something, Simo?" interrupted Maafa.

"Maafa, please—"

"Simo," said Jadi. His face was anything but amused. "I don't like secrets. Not from anyone. Especially not from you."

Simo was silent.

Jadi whipped a paw across his face, knocking him to the ground. "Answer me!"

Simo drew in a long breath. "Sire, I—I almost got your son killed yesterday."

"You—did—_what?_" Jadi hissed.

"I—I took him to see my sister, sire, and she tried to kill him." The last few words were a mumble. Jadi turned to Maafa. "Sire, please, she didn't know what she was doing, she's only a cub. Please, sire."

Jadi ignored him. "Maafa, get Akasare."

"Yes, _sire_." Maafa walked into the den, a smile on his face.

"Sire, please," begged Simo. "Don't kill her."

Jadi turned to Simo furiously. "You're lucky I don't kill you where you sit. You are in absolutely no position to bargain. If I were you, I would sit there with my mouth shut, and pray to any and all gods that you know of that I am not bringing Akasare for you."

Simo fell silent, tears streaming down his face. Maafa walked out with Akasare. "Sire," they both said, sitting down.

Jadi turned back to Simo. "You are going to lead us to your sister, and while doing so, you are going to contemplate all possible meanings of 'silent as the grave.' Now walk."

Simo miserably stood up and began to lead Jadi, Akasare, and Maafa to his home. By halfway there he was audibly weeping. He finally stopped at the tall grass where his sister was. "She's in here, sire."

Jadi walked past Simo into the grass. He expected to find one cheetah, not this many. Every one had an identical look of fear as they looked up at the king. It was possible that every cheetah in the kingdom lived right here. "Simo," he said, all of the cheetahs flinching as he spoke. Simo walked in, head hung low. "Get your sister."

Simo walked toward the crowd miserably. The cheetahs cleared a path for him. He walked over to Msasi, tears beginning to come when he saw her. Msasi looked at the king and gasped. "Simo, what's going on?" she whispered.

Simo began to weep again. "I'm sorry, Msasi. I'm sorry."

"Simo, please, no," the deformed cub begged. "Don't do this."

"If I don't, he'll kill you anyway. Just, please, just make it fast and go up there now."

"No. I won't go."

"Msasi, please."

"Simo, don't do this."

"We don't have a choice. Msasi, I'm sorry." He nuzzled her, then turned back to Jadi and raised his voice. "She won't come, sire."

Msasi was jerked forward by black cords, screaming and thrashing. She stopped with a gasp when she reached Jadi. "Do you know what you did?" Jadi asked quietly.

"Yes," said Msasi. "But please, it was a mistake."

"You're right. It was a mistake. And you have no idea how costly it was." Jadi watched as Simo walked up and sat a short distance away from his sister.

"Simo, help me!" Msasi cried out.

"Msasi, I'm sorry. And . . . and please, tell Mother that, too."

"Simo, no!" Msasi struggled harder than ever against the cords binding her legs to the ground.

Jadi turned to Maafa and Akasare. "Kill them." Msasi stopped struggling with a gasp. Jadi turned to face her and the crowd of cheetahs, smiling at their stunned faces. "All of them."

"And Simo, sire?" asked Akasare.

"Leave him to me." Jadi turned to leave. "Other than that, there are to be no cheetahs alive by nightfall."

"NO!" Jadi turned to see Simo leaping at him. Jadi knocked him to the ground with a paw. Cords bound Simo's legs as Jadi walked away, trailing Msasi and Simo. He heard the screams of the cheetahs as Maafa and Akasare started on them. The three of them emerged from the grass.

The cords disappeared from Msasi as Jadi hit her to the ground. He turned to Simo, Simo's face held rigidly in place by black matter, his eyes held open. "Now you will see the price that is paid for your treachery." Jadi turned to Msasi. Simo tried to look away, he tried to close his eyes, but no matter how much he struggled, he could only watch his sister's agony.

oOo

Jadi hit Simo's backside into the den. "You will stay here until I return." He looked at Taabu with an evil smile. "And you know I'll be coming back for you." He turned to leave. "Come, Uchu. I need to talk to you." Uchu followed him with a smile. Jadi watched her walk out, then turned to Simo, his face filled with anger. "You are to stay away from my son, or I will make you regret the day you were born." He turned and followed Uchu.

Simo turned his tear-wetted face to the den and walked over to Taabu, who was lying down, her head on the ground and her eyes half-closed. Tumai lied next to her with Uzuri. Taabu's body was raked with gouges and gashes that were shallow but noticeable. Jadi had obviously beaten his mother and had become so angry that he had forgotten to keep his claws entirely sheathed. "You look awful," Simo observed.

Taabu gave a half-hearted chuckle, then stopped with a gasp. Laughing must have hurt. "You don't look the best, yourself."

A tear slid down Simo's face. He wasn't afraid to show emotion here. Not with his fellow sufferers. "He killed her."

"Who?" asked Tumai.

"My sister." A lump welled up in his throat. "She's dead," Simo said, his voice choked with tears.

"But she was already dead," said Taabu. "I thought he killed her a year ago."

"He missed her," wept Simo. "He knew about it, and he let her live. And now he just does _that!_" He let out an anguished sob. "Why can't he just _die?!_"

"Simo?" Simo turned to see Nafsi sitting behind him. "What's wrong?"

"You!" Simo rounded on him. Nafsi fell over backwards and edged away on his back as Simo advanced. "_You're_ what's wrong!" Simo yelled, backing Nafsi into a wall. "You, and your stinking royal corpse! I _HATE YOU!_" he roared. Nafsi cringed.

Nafsi looked alarmed. "But—but I thought you were my friend."

"_Friend?! Friend?!_ What kind of _friend_ are you? Because of you, the last member of my family is dead! Your father killed my sister, because of _you!_ And you know what?! He didn't even have the decency to kill her! Do you have any idea what he did?!"

"No," Nafsi said quietly.

"He made me sit there while he beat her!" roared Simo. "He forced me to watch, the whole time, with her screaming out for mercy! And he laughed at the idea! He made me watch! And he beat her, and raped her, and ate her, still alive! She was _two years old!_"

"Simo," said one of the lionesses, shocked. The entire den had gone silent.

Simo glared at Nafsi angrily, tears leaking from his eyes. Nafsi stared back, his eyes wide and his mouth silent. "Damn it, don't you have anything to say?! Any tears?! Don't you have any feelings at all, you damned lump of fur?!"

Nafsi finally said quietly, "Dad . . . Dad probably wanted me to be safe. She tried to hurt me, so—"

"Gods damn you!!" Simo swung back his paw, claws fully extended. He was suddenly tackled by Tumai. He struggled madly underneath her. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you little—"

Tumai clubbed Simo across the face. "Simo, please! You know you can't do that."

"I don't care what Jadi does, I'll kill the little bastard!!"

Tumai hit him again, clipping his temple by luck. Simo's head fell to the floor, unconscious. "Taabu! What are we going to do with him?"

Taabu groaned as she moved to a more comfortable position. "There's nothing we can do. He just fell asleep. That's all we know." She sighed, and groaned as she rolled back onto her stomach, winced as she applied pressure to the wounds. "Nafsi, come here."

"But Dad said—"

"Come here!" Nafsi obeyed, hesitating several times along the way. He finally sat in front of Taabu. "You are not to tell Jadi what Simo did. You have no idea what he's gone through. You will not tell you father. Is that understood?"

"Mom and Dad say I'm not supposed to listen to you," said Nafsi, his face completely straight. "I'm supposed to ignore your heretic filth."

Taabu's heart broke as she watched her grandson say that. "Do—do you even know what that means?"

"I'm not supposed to believe what you say," Nafsi said coldly, emotionlessly. He looked at her face, something approaching humor in his eyes, though he didn't quite feel it. It was plain enough for Taabu to see it. "They say you have told me nothing but lies, and you are to be treated as the deceiver you are."

"Oh . . . oh, Nafsi." A tear slid down Taabu's face.

"Why are you crying, Grandma?" Nafsi asked tonelessly.

"Don't you know?" Taabu suddenly remembered with horror what the lionesses had said. "Nafsi . . . Nafsi, don't you love me?"

"Yes, Grandma," he answered tonelessly. He stared at the ground for a moment, then looked up at Taabu, his head cocked to one side. "Grandma, what do you mean when you ask me that?"

"Nafsi . . ." This hurt Taabu more than anything. "You—you really don't know? But you've said it, so many times."

"I just knew you wanted me to say I did. But what's—love?"

Taabu bit her lip. "Don't you feel at all? Happiness? Sadness? Anything?"

Nafsi looked at the ground, thinking. "Well . . . I've been angry. And lonely. I think that's what it is. I want a friend." He looked up, his eyes lit up with discovery. "Yeah, that must be it." The glow in his eyes faded away. "But Grandma, what's happiness?"

"But—but you've laughed. You've smiled." Taabu's voice was desperate.

"Yeah, that's what you wanted. But what's happiness?"

Taabu buried her head in Uzuri's shoulder, crying. Uzuri rubbed a foreleg over her back. "It's okay, Mom. It's okay."

"He doesn't know! He doesn't even know!"

oOo

"Why did she do that?" Jadi asked Uchu in the comfort of the pool of darkness's cave. "She knew the penalty. But why did she do that?"

"Your mother has always had trouble conforming," noted Uchu. "Most likely she couldn't help herself." She smiled. "She probably wanted to make up for your 'failure.'"

Jadi chuckled. "Well, she tried. She made an honest-to-Aiheu fight every step of the way." He looked at Uchu, his face concerned. "But what about Nafsi?"

"He is perfect. He can't be corrupted by some old lioness and her 'virtues.' Just wait. You'll see. He can't help it. He wants to hate. He just doesn't know it. And soon, he'll want to kill. It's only natural for him. It's in his blood."

Jadi laughed. "It is, isn't it?" He paused. "So, anything she may have said about, say, mercy was wasted?"

Uchu smiled. "He can't even feel it. He knows no false, cheery happiness, only true passion, and wonderful, vicious pleasure from the pain of others. No sadness, only want for vengeance. No love, only admiration and lust. And, of course, hate, on every conceivable level. And quite a few unconceivable ones as well." She laughed. "I doubt he could even feel something as simple as loneliness, the simple need for a friend. How can he? Friends are equals." She nuzzled Jadi wistfully. "The son I gave you has no equal. He never will."

Jadi smiled. "He really is perfect."

"He won't be stuck in that pathetic cub body for long, either."

"What? How?" Jadi asked, surprised.

Uchu laughed her seductive little laugh. "He'll have—growing pains."

"Growing pains?"

Uchu smiled, her eyes filled with bloodthirsty visions. "Oh, yes. Imagine if you were to grow an entire year in, say, one or two minutes?"

Jadi thought about it. "That would be . . . different."

Uchu gave him a kiss. "And you know your son is different." Her smile widened. "Just three more years. And then he will truly blossom. He won't grow past where he is now. But in three years, he will grow, suddenly, into the true evil he is to be. From a little cub, all the way to a wonderful, malevolent destroyer." She shuddered with pleasure at the thought. "Oh, he will suffer through the transformation. It will cause him unimaginable pain. But when he emerges from that agony . . . Oh, his hate, his anger, his lust for vengeance . . . I can't even imagine what it will be like. But it will be _glorious_." She closed her eyes, imagining the horrible, malicious lion her cub would turn into.

"It all seems like I'll be rather useless, doesn't it?" pointed out Jadi.

Uchu smiled and nuzzled him even more seductively than usual. "Yes. That's all you are for me. A tool." Jadi stared at her, only mildly repulsed by what she said. The proportions she had twisted his mind into had long ago accepted that fact. "But I do love you, Jadi. I never thought I'd say that truthfully, but I do." There was truth in her words, even if it was only small. The tiny amount of love she possessed for Jadi had the same effect for her like a drop of water for a parched animal in a desert and was just as scarce; it meant something to her, even if it was only a small thing. She had never loved in her entire life. That sliver of love was encased in a hard, stone shell of lust. But it was there. "I don't want to just use you, and you're the first animal I've ever felt that way about. But do you feel used?"

Uchu put a gentle paw to his face, releasing her hold on his mind. She might regret it later, but she could always put it back instantly if she displeased him. She may have loved him, but not _that_ much.

And it was worth it. Jadi appeared to look at her in an entirely new light. She could see the admiration in his eyes replaced by true love, not the attraction she had conjured up. Despite his release, he was still the same ruthless, vicious monster he always was, save for the fact that now he truly, honestly loved her.

"No," he said. "No, I wouldn't have it any other way." He gave her a long, passionate lick. "I wouldn't have you any other way."

oOo

_Please review_.


	3. Simo

**A/N: Violent chapter. This one may be the one that makes the rating go up. If it needs it, PLEASE TELL ME.**

oOo

Chapter III: Simo

Nafsi stared at the half-cheetah, his cold eyes filled with anything but amusement. The cheetah had been stressing the very same fact for over an hour, and Nafsi was becoming . . . supremely annoyed. "Sire, you don't seem to understand. The rebellion is at the mouth of the den, practically. I'm only worried for your safety."

"I have told you time and again not to worry. You should be worried for yourself. When I kill you, I won't have any worry about how safe you feel."

The half-cheetah seemed slightly taken aback by the statement. "Y—yes, sire. But the rebellion—"

"Moyo, I gave you this job because you were reasonably intelligent. I may have killed your father, but you did not inherit this job because of your miserable half-breed status. You may not have his silly virtues, but all you are doing is showing that I have made a mistake. I have been tolerant, but I will not be for much longer. Now be silent, or I'll make sure you'll need to find a new tongue to speak with."

"Yes, sire."

Nafsi returned his attention to the beautiful lionesses surrounding him in the den. The den wasn't Pride Rock. Nothing of the Pridelands remained from the time he had razed it to the ground, save for his one shrine. It and several other kingdoms were tiny things compared to he knew he could do with the power he constantly felt flowing through him, more power than he had ever had when he was trapped in that pathetic cub body with all of its limitations. The acts he had committed as a cub had been nothing. Now that he had grown, the Pridelands were nothing more than a barren wasteland. He had a new den, a better den, a den completely of his making.

And the lionesses surrounding him were his as well. Utterly loyal, utterly beautiful, utterly happy. Whatever happy was. There were no mild, subservient lionesses here. All had spirit, a thirst to please their king. And he rewarded them; they were the few he actually bothered to please. He kept them happy, he kept them close. He gave them little pleasures, such as family nearby and well-fed, even allowed cubs to the ones who asked. The newest one came up to him, nuzzled his thick, jet-black mane lovingly. He stroked her gently as she looked up at him, her eyes worried.

"Are you sure you will be fine, Naf—sire?"

"Nafsi to you, pet. And of course. The others have faith, why can't you?"

"I have only been here a week, Nafsi."

"Of course, Ashki. But you must trust me." Nafsi gave her a kiss as she rubbed against him, purring. He had grown to like her, despite her short time here. She shared his same delicious sense of humor, his lack of morals, his disrespect for weakness. All she cared about was him. Nafsi smiled. He might even make her his true mate, have her carry his son. He gave her another kiss and began to nuzzle her passionately when he was interrupted.

"Sire," said Moyo, "they're—"

"Would you like the ears off as well, Moyo?"

"No, sire. But they really are right there. Right below. They're—" He was interrupted by a deep, throaty voice from outside the den.

"The king has been expecting—" The voice was cut off by a sudden gagging sound. A—thing suddenly landed in the mouth of the den, a hideous thing, completely without eyes or nose, its face almost entirely mouth. A lion rushed into the den after it. Nafsi gently pushed Ashki away. The other lionesses cleared a path to Nafsi. If the lion had looked, he would have seen them smiling.

"You made it all the way _here?_" said Nafsi in mock disbelief. "Oh, what will I _ever_ do?"

"Let's see how those words come out when you're dead!" The lion charged Nafsi, knocking him to the ground. He sank his claws into Nafsi's chest and stomach, tearing deep gashes. He landed blow after blow, Nafsi roaring on the ground in mock pain. He lunged for Nafsi's neck, tightening his grip on it. Ashki cried out for Nafsi.

Nafsi played along, thrashing, slowing down as he ran out of air. It amused him to play along. He couldn't even feel pain anymore. He finally was still; his eyes which had been rolling around the den finally stopped. The lion viciously tore out Nafsi's throat, spitting it out onto the den floor. He stepped back, looking at the king lying on the ground, Nafsi's body riddled with gashes from the fight. Ashki tried to lunge for the lion, but was stopped by two other lionesses. The lion hung his head, sighing with relief. He believed it was over.

Nafsi stood up, the lion drawing in a gasp.

Nafsi laughed. "So after killing me, what's next?" His wounds began to heal over, the lion staring in disbelief. He advanced on the lion, laughing, the lion too scared to move. Nafsi casually swung his paw at the lion, sending him into the wall at breakneck speed, almost breaking his back. He looked up at Nafsi in horror.

"Oh, gods," the lion said.

Nafsi hit the lion angrily across the den. "I am your god!"

The lion cringed. "Oh, what have I done?"

Ashki sat next to Nafsi, nuzzling him adoringly. Nafsi smiled. "Now, what to do with you? Torture?" he asked Ashki.

"Torture's too good for him."

"And killing him just wouldn't give me the pleasure."

"What about Her?"

Nafsi smiled. He loved the way her mind worked. "Of course. She'd _love_ to meet him. She's always hungry."

"What are you going to do?" asked the lion desperately.

"I'm putting down a rebellion, of course." The lion didn't even notice the cords around his legs until they began to drag him towards the back of the den.

The lion struggled madly. "No," he moaned. "No, Chache needs me."

"You should have thought about that before starting anything. Picking the wrong side in a rebellion is . . . unhealthy." He led the lion through the back of the den, emerging into a large chamber, completely empty. He dragged the lion in front of him. He noticed Ashki sitting next to him, her eyes wide, hungering for every detail. The lion was dragged to the mouth of the tunnel connecting the den to the chamber, shivering. Nafsi laughed at his terror. "Why are you scared? There's not even anything in here." The lion breathed a sigh of relief.

A massive, monstrous thing suddenly leapt to the ground in front of the lion, shrieking a horrible, high-pitched cry. Its entire body was black, even the tongue inside its mouth. It was somewhat feline, but no cat ever had massive teeth like that, jagged knives that could easily pierce even stone; or had a neck that was that elongated; or folds of skin attached from its chest to it forelegs that unveiled to reveal monstrous wings. As it landed, claws suddenly shot out of its massive paws, dried blood covering the monster's claws, paws, and muzzle. The lion leapt back in horror, now free of the cords, but with no hope of escaping at all.

"Of course, she's in here, but I know she wouldn't ever do anything to you." Nafsi walked to the beast and put a paw to her cheek. The beast gave a small moan. "Harmless. Unless, of course, you've done something foolish." Nafsi smiled. "Like leading a rebellion. Even a pathetic one like your own." The beast's claws began to sink further into the ground. Nafsi's smile grew wider at her anticipation. "Feed."

The beast crouched down. The lion found his legs and turned to run into the den. The beast leapt at the lion and grabbed his tail, swinging him around and into the center of the chamber. Ashki watched it all, fascinated. "What's she going to do to him?"

Nafsi laughed and sat down next to her, watching as the lion got to his feet and backed away from the beast, obviously thinking he still had a possibility of escape. "Yes, I've forgotten. This is your first time, isn't it? She'll kill him of course. But she'll take her time. I'm sure you've seen her loose."

"Yes. It was amazing."

"Yes. How she devours to no end, hunting and killing every living thing. Beautiful." He stopped to watch the beast hit the lion, knocking him onto his back. "But here, she takes her time. Sadly, not with the females. But the males . . . No one ever taught her not play with her food."

The lion swiped at the beast's face, succeeding in doing nothing more than cutting open his paw on one of the monster's teeth. The beast pressed her forepaws against the lion's forelegs, slowly pushing them slowly apart and downward so they were at equal height with his body, then suddenly snapped them to the ground as they popped out of their sockets, the lion screaming. The hind legs had no sockets to pop out of, instead breaking into compound fractures. The beast gave a low cry, barely audible above the lion's screams. She licked the lion, her large tongue going the length of his body, her pleasure as obvious as the lion's pain. She held up a paw, all claws retracted save for one. She took that claw and ran it down the center of the lion's thrashing body, deep enough only to tear open the lion's pelt. She looked down at the lion's writhing muscles in fascination.

Nafsi closed his eyes, feeling the beast's pleasure. "Yes, precious. Feed." The monster buried her head into the lion's body, the screams reaching a crescendo. He knew how she would nearly kill him, how she would bring him to the brink of death, only to give him her restorative and begin the process all over again for as long as she pleased. The lion screamed on.

Nafsi woke up, once again a cub. He did not wake up from the dream, which all other cubs would have considered a nightmare. He woke up because it was morning. The dream was nothing to him. It wasn't the first like it. He had told his mother about these dreams before. She had said they were visions of the future, of the strong king he would become. Some, however, he didn't need an explanation for. He hadn't grown up in all of his dreams. Some happened almost to the day—and were always true, in every detail.

He remembered what Taabu had said about dreams being fanciful, imaginative romps around the mind. He'd never had any of those. To him, they were just that: dreams, things that never happened. He was mildly amused by the thoughts of what they would be like. But he normally never thought of them. He was more concerned in trying to understand.

Nafsi was obedient, but only to a point. His mother he almost always obeyed, completely and without question. His father he obeyed just as well, although he was not quite sure if it was for his pleasure or the pleasure of knowing he had pleased his mother. But that was one thing he felt very rarely: the desire to please. He obeyed because it was the only way he knew. He listened closely to his father's teachings, knowing that he would become much more than him, that he would build enormously on whatever Jadi said to him. Uchu had taken him aside and told him that.

And he knew she was right. He could feel—something—flowing through him. It was power, immense, untapped power, power that could only and would only grow. She had told him everything about him that she knew. His growth, his power, his unimaginable hatred and evil. She was right in every aspect.

Save for one. Friendship.

Uchu was not perfect. She may have been overcome by the pool, she may have even reemerged from the pool after decades inside it, merging with it to become one with the pool, but she still was not the pure, evil force that the pool was. She still retained pieces of her former self, pieces that gave her weaknesses, such as her love for Jadi. However small those were, they were still there. She was not the perfect evil; the only thing that was that was even near was only the pool. Despite her best attempts and spending countless hours in the pool, Uchu failed. Imperfection cannot create perfection, only perfection can. Perfection may create imperfection if it so desires, but it does not work the other way.

Nafsi may have been given years of thought by Uchu as she formed him slowly in her mind then gave birth to him in only two months, and he may have been capable of supreme evil, in every way, shape, and form, but he was still imperfect. He felt nothing but anger, sadness, hate, passion, lust, but he also felt loneliness. Uchu had attempted to drive it out of him, but had failed in the end.

Nafsi may have only had a sliver of loneliness, but he clung to it, as if letting it go would kill him. He nurtured it, feeling what little glow of happiness he ever would feel when he thought he found a friend. But ultimately he was alone; no cub would come near him. He was an evil beast, the son of their tyrant, and no one in their right mind would go to any cub that dangerous. He also had the capacity for fear, but had never felt the emotion. He just wasn't afraid of anything.

But Nafsi woke up from his dream, not thinking of any of this. He didn't think of his emotions, his life, any more than any other animal did. At least not when he first woke up. But that was still his favorite hobby. Thinking. He spent hours just thinking about what his father said, about what Taabu said. He may have been told to regard everything she said as a lie, but he still questioned it.

He chose to disobey his parents when it came to her. She had been kind to him and, according to everything his father had taught, had shown him the utmost respect. But most of all, she loved him. Nafsi didn't understand that emotion at all. There were those animals he preferred, and those he didn't. But he never felt anything stronger than a preference toward them, not even his parents. He didn't even entirely understand hate, but he understood extreme dislike very well. When he grew up, Uchu told him, he would learn everything there was to know about hate.

But Nafsi hadn't grown. He hadn't grown at all for at least a week. He had almost two full years before he grew again, for the last time. He yawned and stretched out, remembering what Taabu had always said when she saw him do that. _Stretch and grow_. She pitied him for some reason. For several reasons, all of them unknown to him in their entirety. He knew she pitied him for his size, which he was perfectly fine with. She pitied him for his parents, whom he was perfectly fine with. She pitied him for his loneliness, which he was _not_ perfectly fine with. And she did it all at her expense. Nafsi did not understand martyrdom. He walked out to the edge of Pride Rock.

Akasare sat there. Nafsi remembered him after carrying out Jadi's order of the cheetah extermination. He walked up to the top of Pride Rock, blood covering his muzzle and paws, a wide smile on his face. Nafsi could tell from his wild eyes, his unsheathed claws, his half-crazed half smile that he felt that he had still not killed enough. Jadi had simply asked him, "Well?"

"It's done, sire. Not a single cheetah left. Save that pathetic kitten over there," Akasare had said, gesturing at Simo, whose head was hung in defeat. The scar that Jadi had given him the day Nafsi was born looked horrible, having been reopened by Jadi with painstaking accuracy. Nafsi himself sat by Jadi, watching in silence. Akasare stared at Simo in disgust. It was no secret that he despised Simo for his "foolish virtues." Akasare smiled, however, memories cheering him up. "All the cheetahs, and then some."

"And then some?" asked Jadi dangerously.

Akasare's smile grew wider. "You should know better than to send me hunting like that and expect me not to restrain myself." His eyes closed in sweet, bloody memory. "It was wonderful, sire."

"If you have—"

"Sire, I beg you, if you find any wrongness in my work today, kill me tomorrow."

Jadi had found nothing to criticize.

Akasare turned as Nafsi walked up to him, the sun barely coming above the horizon. "Good morning, sire. You're coming with me this morning. Your father wanted to sleep in again."

Nafsi just noted the fact. It made no difference to him who taught him his lesson. If anything, he almost preferred Akasare. It was always a surprise with him. He didn't know if Akasare was going to teach him how to run a kingdom, or how to fight, or simply teach him why he should feel like he should. Nafsi followed him obediently down the ramp of Pride Rock and into the savannah. Akasare began to speak, this time about how to rule, Nafsi paying almost no attention at first, then none at all. He didn't mean to, he simply was preoccupied. He was thinking about his friends. Or rather, his lack of them.

The first thing that came to his mind was _Why? Why don't I have friends? Is it just that I haven't really tried? That could be it_. _How often am I with someone other than adults? I'm never with the cubs_. _But maybe I should try_. _Yes, that's one thing that I can do_. _But what about Grandma? Maybe she'd know something that I don't_. _Is she a friend? She is always nice to me_. _But why? In fact, what even is a friend? I mean, Akasare could be a friend_. _But he isn't_. _But what would make him one? I mean, he respects me_. _But what's different between me and him and me and Grandma? Maybe it's that I like Grandma more_. _Or maybe_ . . . _I respect Grandma, don't I? Maybe that's what's needed_. _Respect, but from me, too_. _But why do I respect her? No, it's not really respect, or at least not all of it_. _It's that I want to please her_. _But why do I want to? Is there even a reason why? Or maybe it's something like Grandma and Tumai_. _They just do nice things for each other_. _Is that all a friendship needs? Just being nice, with some respect? But what if there isn't_—

"And that, sire, is why there are impalas falling from the sky."

"Huh?" said Nafsi, jerking his head up to look at Akasare.

"Sire, have you listened to a single thing I've said?"

"Um . . . you said good morning."

Akasare gave one of his rare pleasant laughs. "Yes, I did say good morning." He sighed. "Alright, you don't want to be here today, and neither do I. Alright, why don't you show me you've learned one thing today. Just one."

"Like what?"

"Well, Maafa says you're coming along nicely with that power of yours, whatever it is. Show me that."

"What do you want to see?" asked Nafsi innocently.

"Hmm . . ." Akasare's mind swirled with possibilities. "That tree, right over there." Nafsi looked toward a vacant acacia, sitting in the middle of the savannah. "Can you destroy it?" Akasare could barely keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Yeah, I think so."

Akasare waited. "Well, anytime."

"Oh, okay." Akasare turned back to the tree to see fire rippling up its limbs, the fire suddenly quenched by black matter that sprang up from the ground moments later. The black mass tightened, splintering the tree into infinitesimal pieces. Akasare turn back to Nafsi, amazed.

"How did you do that?" he asked greedily.

"I just . . . did. It's nothing difficult. But no one's ever asked me for anything like that before."

"No . . . no, they wouldn't would they?" Akasare thought of the power he might have if he knew how to do that. He shook the thought away almost immediately; he could never learn it, and besides, he enjoyed his close-up, personal methods just fine. "So, you've showed me you've learned something, what do you want to do?"

"Nothing really . . . just sit and think, I guess," said Nafsi thoughtfully. "Um . . . Aka?"

Akasare looked back down at the cub, surprised by the nickname. Nafsi had never used it. "Yes?"

"Do you think you could, you know, leave me out here? Just let me come home when I want to?"

Akasare licked his lips. "I don't think your father would be very happy with that."

"Just tell him I'm . . . getting to know the kingdom, or something. Please?"

"Well . . ."

"I'll make it an order if it makes you feel better," said Nafsi, remembering his father's "suggestions."

Akasare smiled. "Yes, _sire_. I needed to get back, anyway. The king had something for me. Something about Pofu. He'll probably want me back for that."

"Okay." Nafsi sat down, waiting for Akasare to leave. When he felt Akasare was far enough away, he began to work on idea that had suddenly sprang into his head. There were all of these monsters in these dreams of his, and they all were loyal to him. He remembered making them. But he hadn't done anything like that.

_But why not?_ asked a little voice in his head. If he could make servants, he could make a friend. He conjured up a small black puddle of something in front of him. He began to manipulate it with his thoughts. _A friend will need a head, of course, and probably four legs_—_wait, why four? Why does it even have to look like a cub? Let's see, it'll have_ . . .

oOo

The thing was hideous by any sane animal's standards. Its reptilian skin stretched over six legs, its body completely black. Each of the six legs ended in a flat foot, with five toes spread around it at equal angles. In the thing's case, calling the tail a leg actually did make it a leg. Its scaly body somewhat resembled that of a cub's in the fact that it had a tail at one end and a head at the other, but no cub ever had two legs on one side and three on the other, and above all no cub had a head like that. It was shaped like an arrowhead, the creature's multifaceted, insect-like eyes flat against its head, its jaw dropping like the bottom falling out of a box when it opened.

Nafsi was very proud of his creativity.

The thing crawled into the den, claws coming out of its toes and digging into the ceiling. The thing followed its orders and placed itself above Taabu, unnoticed by anything in the den. It slowly retracted its claws. It fell from the ceiling directly in front of Taabu's head, between her and Tumai. Both of the lionesses looked down at the thing in horror, too stunned to move. Taabu reacted first, Tumai milliseconds later. Both of the lionesses stood up, screaming. Nafsi romped into the den, laughing. The thing opened its mouth and, by way of hello, let out a screech. Taabu, still screaming, hit it across the den, the other lionesses scrambling to avoid it. Taabu screamed, "Get away!"

"Grandma, it's okay!" said Nafsi. "Don't hurt it!"

"Get away! Get out of the den!"

"Grandma! _Grandma!_ Look at me!" Taabu looked down at Nafsi, her eyes crazed. "It's okay." Nafsi walked over to it. "It's my friend."

"That—thing?"

"Uh-huh. I made it." Nafsi scratched the top of its head. The creature relaxed, a long, forked tongue lolling out. The lionesses made various noises of disgust. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nafsi," said Tumai, "it's a monster!"

"But what does it matter what it looks like?" asked Nafsi. "It's my friend."

"I'm sure my son means servant," said Uchu, striding into the den. She spotted the thing easily. "My, it's—unique."

"I—I made it, Mother," said Nafsi, uncertain how she would react.

Uchu's eyes lit up. "Really? Amazing. What does it do?"

"Well—not a whole lot. It's just a friend."

"Servant, Nafsi," said Uchu with a smile. "You have no friends. You have no equals. Now send it away. It's putting me off my lunch."

"But Mother—"

"You can always make more later."

"Mother—" Nafsi stopped with a gasp as the thing was swallowed up in a pool of darkness, screeching its protest. "No," he whispered.

"And now you can make another one when it suits you. Or one that actually has a specific purpose. Wouldn't you like that?" Nafsi bit his lip, fighting back tears. That was his friend. He ran out of the den angrily. Uchu smiled. Maybe he'd actually do something rash. She'd enjoy seeing what he did when really provoked. She lied down in her place on the floor.

Tumai said quietly what the rest of the den was thinking. "Well, now we got rid of both monsters." Only Taabu felt any sympathy.

oOo-

Pofu walked along on his morning walk, thinking over what was going on. Kovu was gone, Fujo was gone. He was the last male left, save for Akasare and Jadi, and Akasare didn't really count. Pofu sighed. He should have done something. Anything. He shouldn't have let Fujo die. Yes, the kingdom was ultimately more prosperous for it, but it was empty, completely devoid of happiness. And no one could leave. He laughed bitterly at that. You could come in any time you like; you could even say you were going to leave openly. But you could never, ever leave. It wasn't really like Pofu had anywhere else to go, anyway.

He suddenly stopped, hearing voices. He began to turn away, when he suddenly realized he recognized one. It was Taabu. "Just please, you have to leave _now_. If he finds you . . . I don't know what he'll do."

The next voice was a deep, unpleasant, throaty rasp. "I've looked for you so long . . ." Pofu began to walk toward the voices. "I can't just leave you now." There was a gasp from the raspy-voiced animal. "There's a lion behind you," she whispered, barely audible to Pofu's amplified hearing.

"Run," breathed Taabu.

"Wait," said Pofu. "Don't go."

Taabu turned to see him and said to the other lioness, "Wait, Huzuni. It's okay."

"But—Jadi—"

"It's not Jadi. It's Pofu."

"Is—is he your son, too?"

"No. He's Nyota's."

"What are you doing out here, your majesty?" asked Pofu.

Taabu gave a small _hmph_ of laughter at the title. "I—I found my sister, Pofu. She came for me."

"We wondered why her visits just stopped," rasped Huzuni. "We had no idea where she was. We didn't even know where the Pridelands are. And now we find out that she's been like this . . ."

Pofu knew what she was talking about. The barrier that surrounded the Pridelands. The one that drowned any animal that tried to leave in darkness. Not even birds could escape it by flying over. They were dragged down to the ground and swallowed up. No one escaped. "I'm sorry," he said. "I can't imagine how it feels."

"Huzuni," said Taabu, "you really do need to leave. Before someone comes."

"I'll bring help," said Huzuni.

"No! Please, just promise me you'll never do that! Please! I don't want any more to die!"

"We can help. We'll kill him, like Sibu."

"No. No one can kill him. No one can touch him. Look at this," said Taabu, sticking her arm across the barrier, having the darkness leap up and enclose it. Huzuni gave a gasp of shock. "He'll swallow you, just like that. Please, just stay away! Just promise me you'll stay away."

"Taabu . . ."

"Please! I don't want any of you to die."

A tear slid down Huzuni's face. "I'll never see you again, will I?"

"I'll send someone, as soon as you can come. I promise. Now please, leave! He'll drag you in here! He'll enslave you like the rest of us!"

"He wouldn't . . ."

"He's done it before. He'll take you, and rape you, and never let you go! Now please! Just please leave! Do as your big sister asks for once!"

"Taabu . . . goodbye, Taabu." Taabu watched as her sister ran off into the savannah.

"Pofu . . . when will it stop?" Taabu asked.

He didn't have an answer.

oOo

Fujo looked down into the omniscio. Despite the name given to it, he just called it his looking-pool. He didn't see any reason to use complicated words for little things like this. Just think where you wanted to look, and you could see it.

He didn't want to look too much anymore. The only place he did look was home, and all that was there was horrible desolation. He wondered how his son could have turned like this. But, as his father pointed out to him, it didn't pay to dwell on his past mistakes. That only made for a miserable eternity.

Fujo wasn't alone. Next to him, looking down into the pool, was an Illuminati. When he first heard the name, he thought it referred to those animals that ran around Heaven unrestrained and looked like—something. Something like a cat breeding with—more cats. And then a bird; couldn't forget the wings.

He later learned "Illuminati" didn't apply to them at all. He still didn't have a name for those animals, and he still didn't have the humility to ask. But an Illuminati, that was different. It was difficult to not wonder about them. Just a hint about them and you wanted to know more. They were just like Fujo. Fujo could have even been one. But Illuminati were the elites of the mortals, as close to godhood as you could get. They had lived good, wholesome lives, and had been rewarded with elevated status. But it wasn't easy; they had to be nearly flawless to even be considered.

The one sitting next to Fujo was actually one of the higher ranking ones. He'd been considered for admittance into the ranks of the gods. Of course, he didn't get it. It wasn't even remembered the last time that had happened. But as this Illuminati put it, "It's fine by me."

Fujo didn't think of any of this when he was next to this Illuminati, though. He considered Ilemi, the Illuminati, as a friend more than anything. And he needed a friend now more than ever. He stared down at the omniscio, looking at his mother, his poor Taabu, at Simo's sorrow. But he couldn't see Nafsi. He wasn't allowed to. The gods let no one except for the few privileged, such as the Illuminati next to him. It was one of the things that made him the most bitter. He couldn't speak to Nafsi, he couldn't do anything to help the cub. It infuriated him how they had a "do-not-interfere" policy. If there wasn't one, he may not have had to look at the empty spot in the back of the den, remembering with regret how Kiara would be arriving shortly. A thought crossed his mind. He turned to the creature next to him. "Ilemi?"

"Hmm?" asked Ilemi, a faint hint of amusement at the mention of his name. He was, like Fujo, a lion. But no normal lion possessed a shining aura around his body. Some Illuminati decided to display their aura more than others. Ilemi kept his subdued, almost as if it wasn't there.

"You know how Mom's coming, right?"

"Yeah," Ilemi said, his voice guilty. "But don't worry about it. She'll be much happier up here."

"That's not what's bothering me. It's this." Fujo waved a paw at his pool.

"Don't worry about that, either."

"How can I not worry about that? My own son is decimating the kingdom, and my brother is killing animals without any thought at all. Jadi's bad enough, but Taraju . . . I never wanted him to go back to that. I thought he never would."

"You know that's Akasare. I don't know how you can forget that Taraju's here."

"But he's just like him . . . look at him, how he treats his lover."

"Fujo, don't worry. Everything will be fine."

"How can you say something like that?" asked Fujo in disbelief.

Ilemi smiled. "Trust me. They _are_ benevolent, no matter what you may think. They always make sure it turns out okay."

"I hope so."

There was a pause where Ilemi looked over Fujo, wondering how to comfort him. "Come on," he finally said. "She's going to be here soon. Don't want to be late, do you? Didn't she ever teach you to be on time?"

"Yeah . . . I guess so." Fujo took one last look at his looking-water and walked away.

oOo

Simo sighed. He sat outside the den, waiting to give the morning report. He wondered why he even bothered. He had _nothing_. Absolutely nothing. He had gone back after the massacre that had obliterated everyone he knew. But it was worse than that. They weren't all dead. Maafa and Akasare hadn't done a complete job. Maafa, maybe, but Akasare . . . he had just gone from one cheetah to another, killing in a frenzy of bloodlust, not even bothering to check for death.

And Simo had gone back, after Jadi had given him permission to go home, back to the slaughter, finding exactly what he didn't want to see. Bodies everywhere, torn and mutilated. And then, what he hadn't expected: cheetahs, live cheetahs, looking among the dead hopelessly for a live loved one, while others cradled mates and cubs, weeping. Simo nearly vomited as a cheetah with an odd number of limbs staggered about, half his face gone from claws. The cheetah finally stopped and bent down, picking up the missing leg in his mouth. The sobbing was quiet, but there. They couldn't let their sorrow show; any loud noises would be sure to bring unwanted others.

And then they saw Simo. They limped to him, weeping, the first one embracing him. Some stayed, clutching their lost loved ones close to their bodies. "Leave," the one who embraced him begged him. "Please, leave." Others had told her she was a fool to say that, that he was the last one left that was whole. "He'll bring them back again!" she said. "He'll slip, and you know it! He won't be able to help it, but he'll do it. We're not safe with him here. He can't see us."

Simo was devastated. He saw the horrible logic. He would slip. He knew he would. He was unable to hide anything from Jadi. Jadi would find out, whether Simo told him or not. Simo had to forget them, forget they even existed. But he pleaded with them, showing Msasi as an example. There were those that honestly wanted him to stay, some that truly loved him. But even they saw reason. Simo knew better than to appeal to the ones who wept by their dead, the looks they gave him showed they hated him utterly. The ultimatum was finally given: "You must leave forever. And—and if you come back, you will die."

So Simo allowed a single tear to escape his eyes as he sat, waiting for Jadi. He had no home, he had no family, he had no race. Jadi had taken it all away from him. He hurriedly wiped the tear away. If Jadi saw him, his pain would only increase. The thought of suicide crept continually into his mind. He had almost done it, several times. And then he had stopped, right before he jumped or drowned himself or cut open the underside of his foreleg. He couldn't do it. He simply couldn't bring himself to do it.

There was movement in the mouth of the den. Simo hurriedly straightened up, swallowing back his tears. Uchu walked out of the den, Jadi not with her. He stared at her in surprise. She walked over to him with a gentle, "Report."

"Ma'am?"

She sat before him, her eyes seeming to laugh. "I said, 'report.'"

Simo's mind seemed to compute the command. "It's—quiet today. Not too much . . ." His voice trailed off as Uchu began to circle him. The wonderful smell of pheromones began to waft up to his nostrils. "Not too much to report on," he said firmly, keeping his eyes looking straight at the Pridelands. "The antelopes are complaining about not enough grass." Her tail snaked across his neck as she began to rub against him. "I tried to explain that you and Jadi don't control the weather, but they just wouldn't—" His eyes snapped wide open as she kissed his neck. "—listen . . ."

"I don't give a damn about antelopes," she said, her voice barely suppressing her emotion. She licked him again, passionately, the pheromones reaching new levels in Simo's brain.

Simo's jaw shivered. He wasn't sure if it was out of emotion or fear. "Ma'am, please stop," he begged. "When Jadi comes out—"

"Jadi won't be coming out." She pushed him to the ground, giving him another lick. "It's just me. And you." She leaned close to his ear and whispered, "And I want it."

Simo swallowed. He desired her, and she knew it. He always had, since he had first begun to see her every day. And he had never said a word, never shown a single sign, because it would have been instant death, for Jadi was always right there. But Jadi wasn't here. _She's evil_ Simo's sanity protested. _She'll use you, and discard you_. _There is a reason she is doing this_.

"Ma'am—" Simo's words were cut off as she pressed her body to his, rubbing upward as she licked him passionately. And the pheromones—oh, gods, the wonderful, wonderful smell she had, the smell that overwhelmed him and choked off his logic. He hadn't been this close to a female in so long; none of the cheetahs wanted to mate with the king's advisor. But Uchu did. Hesitatingly at first, then in a sudden rush, he raised his head to her neck, nuzzling it, kissing it. "_Now_," he whispered.

Uchu smiled. "Just wait a little. Follow me. If Jadi sees . . ." She kissed him again and got off him, her tail dragging across his body as she did so, finally tilting his chin up to see her walking down the stairs of Pride Rock. He watched her go for a second, chest heaving in anticipation, before he turned over and followed her eagerly.

In the den a figure stirred, getting up and coming out of the den. Jadi looked at the two figures walking across the savannah. _Uchu, Uchu, Uchu_.

oOo

Simo followed her across the savannah, still not believing his luck. Her pheromones continued to flood his mind; she was practically perfumed with them. Oh, he would make love to her like no other. He would make her see that she wanted him, not Jadi. He followed her into the spire that housed the pool. Yes, this was it. Oh, gods, it would be wonderful.

Uchu stopped and turned to him, with a smile. "Now."

Simo leapt toward her. "Oh, _Uchu!_"

Uchu swatted him across the face, knocking him to the ground. She put himself on top of him with a smile. "You've been a very bad boy, Simo."

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I have." He leaned up to kiss her again.

She whipped her claws across her face. "How dare you even think of touching me," she said coldly. "I don't know how I'm going to get the stench of your fur out of my mouth."

"Like this," said Simo. He leaned again to kiss her.

Her paw found his throat and slammed his neck to the ground. "Shame on you, Simo. Trying to make love to me. I can't believe you even let yourself think of it. Although I can't blame you." She leaned close to him. "You want me so much, don't you?"

"Oh, gods, _yes!_" Simo tried desperately to kiss her nuzzle, to make love to her in any way he could. The pressure on his throat increased. The effect of the pheromones began to lessen slightly. Uchu had stopped trying to seduce him.

"And that's bad. Very bad. Almost as bad as keeping secrets. Jadi doesn't like secrets. And when Jadi isn't happy, I most definitely am not." He struggled to breathe. He could, but it was a fight. "You should have never thought you could hide your cheetah friends from us. You have no idea how delighted I was to do this for Jadi. How happy I was to make your pathetic little hide suffer."

Simo felt his body being slowly moved backwards by the paw on his throat. He looked behind him to see the pool. He looked toward it, terrified.

"_This_ is what I wanted, Simo. More pleasure than you could ever give me."

He began to struggle madly. His legs were spread out on both sides of her, a testimony of the foolish way he had been lured here. His hind legs were useless. But his forelegs he wrapped around her, sinking his claws into her back. She gasped in pleasure and pain. "Yes, that's it. Fight. Make it all the more rewarding for me."

"Uchu," he said, for some reason wasting his breath on the word, and then, on an even more useless word, "please."

She laughed. He felt the top of his head become moist. "You're right to beg. Oh, what I have planned for you . . ."

The dampness spread, covering his ears, his forehead, his eyes, his mouth, his neck. He struggled madly as Uchu held him underneath the surface of the pool. Then, slowly, he felt pain assault him as the pool invaded his mind. He realized what Uchu planned to do. She wanted to change him, to make him as she did Jadi, cruel and heartless. He fought desperately. He could see her on top of him, chest heaving, partially from the effort of holding him down and from tearing apart his mind, partially from the sheer pleasure she received from the act and the pool.

It wasn't nice for Simo. His mind was assailed, its layers torn apart as it attempted to do to him in a few minutes what took Jadi nearly two years. His body shook violently, no longer from trying to escape, but simply from the pain the pool forced upon him. Gradually, the pain went away.

Simo stopped moving, somehow breathing under the water of the pool. His breathing slowed down to a regular pace. He felt the paw removed from his throat. He wished it had stayed. Just having Uchu touch him was a blessing, something which he most definitely didn't deserve. He turned over and lifted his head out of the water. It wasn't wet; it was completely dry. He looked over at Uchu. "Your majesty . . ."

Uchu still breathed heavily, exhausted. "Well, I do love my work," she said, looking him up and down as if he was completely different. Her work was so much fun. "Feel—better?"

Simo bowed before her, touching his lips to her forepaws. "Your majesty, thank you."

Uchu smiled. "That's right. You bow to me—and only me. And Jadi," she added, almost as an afterthought. "But I think you have some things you need to fix, don't you? A few things you've been hiding from us?"

A horrible smile crept across his face. "Yes, your majesty. Thank you for the privilege."

oOo

Laka watched her two cubs play happily. They may not have had their sister, but the boy and girl still had each other. Laka sighed. They had lost so many family members when Jadi had decided to exterminate them. But cheetahs still lived. And they would keep living. Her two cubs were proof of that as they wrestled on the ground. And they would grow up, and be married, and have cubs of their own. They still didn't cease to amaze her, with how they played, even with their wounds that weren't fully healed.

Most cheetahs were much better; some were completely healed, the others nearly healed. As healed as they would be. Many of them had disabilities now, handicaps. Just as she had. She was unable to do more than hobble. But she had let the wounds heal, trying to get them to heal quickly. The cubs picked at their scabs, opening the wounds over and over. All the mothers could do was stop them when they saw them doing it.

And Simo was gone, Laka reflected sadly. He was exiled. She hadn't wanted him to go; none of them had. Well, most of them, anyway. There were still doubts about whether or not he would have betrayed them. She knew how much he must have longed to come back. She wanted to take him back. But they couldn't. He could be the doom of them all. Just a word about "my family" would have Jadi hunting for them.

The living conditions weren't the best, either. They couldn't hunt; they could be seen. They relied completely on the generosity of others for food. They couldn't even go too far to go to the bathroom. If you went too far, the perimeter nearly made you pass out from the stench.

But they lived. They may have been hidden and forced to live in horrible conditions, but they lived.

Laka watched her cubs turn over and over, each trying to get on top and stay there. Laka smiled. They were so happy, nearly oblivious to what horror they would grow up in. They would never be free. Not while Jadi reigned. No animal would be, save for the ones that bowed low to him, serving him with their everything. They were the lowest scum the Pridelands had. But her cubs would never grow up into that. They were sweet, goodhearted things. She loved them so much.

She looked around the clearing, looking at the other families. Some had mates, some didn't. Laka's was dead. Maafa had killed him, had brutally torn through his stomach. He had died a slow, painful death. She looked around, seeing the happy cubs that had all but forgotten the horrible slaughter, the youths that still reflected on it sadly, and the adults, who brooded on their situation, many of them seeming to have forgotten how to smile. And then her eyes landed on something she didn't expect to see. "Simo?" she whispered incredulously. It was him. He was walking into the clearing. Almost immediately he was stopped by one of the females.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. All or the adults turned to Simo. "We told you to leave."

"I—I couldn't help it," he said, staring at the ground. "I couldn't leave you." He looked up at her. "My family." He passionately nuzzled her, the cheetah's eyes widening. She had mated with Simo just two or three times; she didn't expect this. Simo brought his mouth to the ear of the cheetah, whispering words that Laka didn't hear: "My traitorous family."

His mouth suddenly closed around the cheetah's neck. Laka gasped as Simo tore out the cheetah's throat. The cheetah collapsed to the ground. Several cheetahs rushed at Simo. He fought back, slashing with his claws as the cheetahs came, making them fall to the ground, disabling them if not killing them in one or two swift strokes. The cheetahs were injured, Simo was whole. They were no match as they came upon him one by one, falling under his claws. There finally were no more that came. They all lied on the ground, dead or injured.

The injured didn't stay that way long. Laka watched in horror as Simo bent over them and carefully tore open their stomachs, letting the acid eat away at their insides, as Laka's mate had died. Horrible screams were heard from the mouths of the dying. And Simo did yet another thing that Laka would have never believed possible.

He smiled.

Laka watched in horror as Simo watched them die. Another cheetah, unable to walk a decent speed, like Laka, began to limp toward Simo, obviously intending to kill him. She fell with a thud and a groan. Simo looked away from the death he had created to the injured cheetah. His smile grew even wider. He walked toward her. The cheetah feebly swung a leg at him. Simo caught it in his mouth and pressed down. Laka felt her blood chill as the bone crunched. The cheetah screamed. Simo bit into her throat, as he had done to the first cheetah, tearing it out.

"Mommy!" yelled a cub. Simo's eyes turned to the cub. The cub froze. Simo advanced toward his next target, the cub and his sisters. One fell with each swipe of Simo's paws. Laka was horrified. She looked down at her cubs. They were watching the horrible scene, rooted to the spot with fear.

"Run," she whispered. They ran, screaming. Simo looked toward them and easily caught up. He snapped his jaws twice. Her cubs had their backs broken. "No!" Laka screamed. Simo looked up at her, advancing on her now. "Simo, don't do this!" she begged. "Don't do this!"

He caught her throat with a paw. "How dare you defy your king! And Queen Uchu! How dare you!"

"They want us all dead!"

"And you should go to them and beg them to kill you!"

"Simo—" Simo threw her to the ground. He slashed a brutal paw through her stomach. She screamed in pain. The agony was overwhelming. She rolled on the ground, vaguely aware of Simo going onto the next cheetah, leaving her to die. Simo paid no attention to her again. He went to each cheetah, killing them, forcing them to suffer, murdering cubs in front of mothers. He delighted in their pain. These traitors deserved every bit of the pain that they suffered. He had been given the opportunity to show Uchu who he really did give his loyalties to. He would not let her down.

He sliced open the throat of the last adult. He looked around, making sure they were all dead. And there it was: a cub that he had somehow missed, pushing his father frantically, trying to get him to wake. Before the cub knew it, his body was crushed under Simo's forepaws, beaten into the ground ruthlessly. Simo looked down at the cub with satisfaction. There were no more traitors to the kingdom here.

And then, instantaneously, his mind seemed to snap. It suddenly saw the carnage in a completely new light. In a horrified light. He looked at the massacre. Bodies lied over the area of the clearing, seeming to cover every inch. Simo looked at them, aghast.

"What have I done?" he whispered. The pleasure he had felt at killing them had long since gone. And how he had believed the things he had said to that cheetah. How Uchu and Jadi should be obeyed as if they were gods . . . Simo was revolted.

_I am a monster_.

A lithe, black figure walked into the clearing, looking over the slaughter with approval. "It's decent. By my standards. Probably wonderful for yours." Uchu looked away from the bodies and up at Simo. "You should be _proud_." She smiled. "Doesn't it feel so _good?_"

"What have you done to me?" he whispered.

"I made you see the way things are, Simo. And wasn't it wonderful while it lasted?"

Uchu put a paw to his face. Simo felt no pleasure from it. He was disgusted with what he had done. It consumed his mind. "I murdered them," he said, his voice dead. "All of them."

"And it was so much fun to listen to." Uchu removed the paw, and began to walk away, looking at the bodies.

"I don't deserve to live," Simo said quietly.

"By whose opinion? What you've created is a work of art."

"It was butchery." Simo shook his head. "I killed every one of them," he said, his voice choked with tears. "Oh, gods, it feels so horrible." He looked up at Uchu. He wanted to ask her to finish him, to label him as a traitor with the rest of his kind, but couldn't.

"You wish you were dead," she said matter-of-factly. "You don't know how you'll live with yourself."

"I don't want to die," he said softly. "But I don't want to live."

She looked back at him with a smile. "Well, what are you to do, then?" She began to walk out of the clearing.

Simo watched her go. The horror mounted in his stomach, the pain that crept through his mind unbearable. He was nauseated. He watched Uchu go, then suddenly cried out, "Wait!" Uchu stopped and turned. Simo didn't want to say it. He hesitated. Then, finally, softly, "Do it again."

Uchu smiled and began to walk back toward him. "What?"

"Put it back. Please. Just take away the pain." Uchu stopped next to him, her smile wide. "I can't take the guilt."

"You want me to make you loyal again? So wonderfully unwavering?"

Simo looked away, closing his eyes. "Yes."

Uchu nearly laughed at the pain he went through. "No, no. I want to hear you say it. Now. How you love me. How you want me. How you believe that I am your goddess."

"I do."

"_Say it_."

"I—I love you, Uchu."

"Look at your queen when you speak to her."

Simo painfully brought his eyes up to her malicious, smiling face to stare at her amused, pitiless eyes. "I love you, Uchu. I—want you."

Her smile would have gone off her face if it became much larger. "How much?"

"So much. I want you desperately." Anything to end the pain. Anything.

"Bow to your goddess. Don't you have any respect?"

Simo bowed to her, his head nearly touching the ground. He touched his lips to her paws. "I love—I love my queen," he said miserably.

Uchu's smile split to show her sharp, dangerous teeth. "Rise." Simo brought his head up. "And so many of you think I'm this horrible beast." She sighed theatrically. "I'm not the horrible, uncaring animal that so many of you think me to be. I reward loyalty." She put a paw to the side of his face.

Simo closed his eyes. _Mother_ . . . _Msasi_ . . . _Father_ . . . _forgive me_. _I can't take this pain_.

He felt Uchu take hold of his mind, a hold he knew would never be released. And he never wanted it to be. He opened his eyes, a different cheetah. He smiled. The pain was gone. In its place were only sheer ecstasy and a lust to serve his queen in any and every way possible. He resisted the overwhelming temptation to kiss her for what she had done, and to kiss her, for she was what he wanted. He bowed low once more, touching his lips to her paws joyously. "Thank you, your majesty."

Uchu smiled. He would serve her well.


	4. Uwivu

Chapter IV: Uwivu

Nafsi looked down at the lioness with a smile. She was young, barely out of her cubhood. And she hated her king with a passion, one of the few who still dared to hate him. She was stunningly beautiful. He had given several lions kingdoms to rule under his name, and any one of them would have desired her if they saw her, just for themselves and for no other.

She had been born outside of his personal pride, instead into the downtrodden, suffering lionesses who lived inside his lands and outside of his den, the lionesses who only received cubs from rogues, the lionesses who were the lowest of the low, the only protection they had being if they had a family member inside Nafsi's den who wished them to remain safe. Very, very few of the lionesses that Nafsi wanted in his den wanted their families safe. He brought lionesses who had qualities that he found appealing up from the slime they lived in, and those same qualities generally made them utterly uncaring as to their families' fate.

But the lioness before him didn't have the cruel streak that Nafsi enjoyed. She was stunningly beautiful, as were the other lionesses, but she despised Nafsi and his ways. But she would love him. Nafsi knew she would. He had grown bored recently. Decades had passed since Ashki had been with him, since he had given her a son, who he had let rule one of his kingdoms, and had died, along with Nafsi's mother a few years later.

Other lionesses had come and gone, Nafsi giving a son to one other in all those years. Both of his sons had grown to be wonderful rulers, with not a hint of pity or compassion in their hearts, the closest they could come to their father's utter lack of useless emotion. Nafsi had been prouder of them than he had been of anyone, other than Ashki. She devoted her life to him, completely and fully, knowing what paw held out meat to her, and that she should caress the paw and worship its owner. His sons had not learned that. Their personalities were almost replicas of his in their arrogance, and that arrogance had cost them their lives. Nafsi had enjoyed killing them.

But the lioness before him would not bear him a son as he had let Ashki. He would not kill her as he did his sons. He would make her love him, would destroy her arrogance and hate towards him and leave nothing but devotion. He would make her truly love him. It would amuse him to break her. But when he was done, she would be far too subservient to let him entrust her with a son.

Her future subservience didn't show as she looked up at Nafsi, only hate was in her eyes. She was held by the forelegs between two of his creatures, both of them thickly muscled, with their long, clawed talons around a foreleg of the lioness. Majadi, that was her name. Nafsi smiled as she hung limply in the grasp of the creatures, only her hind legs touching the floor of the den. This was a private room; there were no other lionesses here. She would be put in with them later. But now it was just her and him.

"Release her," he said casually to the creatures. Her forelegs were thrown to the ground, her body following them. Nafsi smiled from his long, soft throne where he lied, sprawled across the object. It, like the entire den and all the dens that were connected, was of his making. This was a special den, one that he used when he wished to make love to a lioness alone. His smile grew slightly in realization of the irony of what this room would be used for now. He and Majadi would not be disturbed; it was the reason he had chosen the den. Majadi looked at him, the fierce, burning hatred in her lovely eyes.

"Leave us," Nafsi said to the creatures. They bowed and walked out.

Nafsi got up from the throne and walked toward the lioness. She stared back at him, her face not showing her fear, if she had any. She would have been a wonderful lioness to have in his den, if she wouldn't have hated him. "Don't you bow to your king?" he asked. "Doing otherwise has become rather deadly."

Majadi brought her head up proudly. "Then kill me. Kill me like you did my mother."

Nafsi smiled. "Did I? All of the murders begin to run together after all these years."

"I'm surprised you have the courage to call them that."

Nafsi laughed. "What? Murders? But they are. Wonderful, delightful killings. But you won't be adding to the number," he said, stretching out a paw for her beautiful cheek.

Her foreleg flew up. He allowed her to knock his paw away. "Don't touch me!" she half-shrieked.

Nafsi's smile grew wider at the statement. "Do you really think you can hold back against me?" He put a paw across the back of her neck and pulled her close to his muscle-bound chest. "You have no hope of resisting my strength." He licked her passionately, enjoying the feeling of her squirming.

He let go, Majadi pushing herself away from him. "Don't do that again," she snarled.

Nafsi laughed. "Do you really think you're the one who makes demands?"

"If you're going to rape me, then rape me! Don't toy with me!"

"Oh, but I won't rape you. I don't rape anyone. After all, rape is such a . . . immoral thing." He grinned. "No, you will beg me to make love to you."

"_Never_," Majadi said fiercely.

Nafsi shook his head, still smiling. He held out his paw, away from Majadi. A long, black, featureless rod appeared in it, Nafsi's digits wrapping around it with some difficulty. It had obviously been made for a lion's paw, however. His paw.

"This is a wonderful little thing I have here. I call it a sibu. Quite appropriate considering the meaning of the name." He looked away from it toward Majadi. "It's a wonderful feeling, using it. I'm not quite sure how it would affect you, though." He held it out toward Majadi. "Wouldn't you like to try it?"

Majadi stared at it. She didn't want to take it. She knew it had to be a trap. But for all she knew it was a euphoric, or quite possibly the thing that had kept Nafsi alive for centuries. If she could get her paws on that. She looked up at Nafsi's still-smiling face, then reached out her paw for the sibu.

Pain flooded her mind. She screamed, throwing back her head. Nafsi brought the rod away from the single digit that had made contact. Nafsi looked at her with a grin as the pain went away instantly. "You see, the rod gives different amounts of pain to different animals. But I'd say you're about normal."

"You _bastard!_" she screamed.

Nafsi hit her across the face with the paw that had the sibu, without letting it touch her, knocking her to the ground. "The correct title for you is _master_."

"I'll never tell you that! How dare you try to play god with my life!"

"Oh, but I am your god. Or rather, your master. Or both, if you prefer. You should have known, after all, that sibu means 'cause pain.' It's not my fault you never bothered to learn your royal."

"You goddamn—"

Nafsi pressed the rod to her again. "What a filthy mouth," he observed as she rolled on the floor, screaming. He wondered idly what it felt like. Simply touching it probably would have set him rolling like her, if he wasn't immune to any amount of pain. He removed the rod. "We don't need to go through this, you know. Simply learn to love me."

"Never," she whispered.

He pressed the sibu to her again, removed it again. "Sit up."

"No."

More pain, longer. "This will never kill you. There will be no pleasant escape with death. Sit up." Majadi did so miserably. Nafsi brought the rod next to the front of her neck, Majadi taking in breath sharply as he did so. He held it there, watching her stare at it as he kept it there, motionless. He finally pressed it against her neck, leaving it there for the longest time, watching her scream in agony as her muscles tensed, paralyzing her sitting stance. He pushed back, raising her forepaws of the ground as the rod lifted her slowly to his amusement.

He finally whipped it away, Majadi sinking into his outstretched foreleg. He pulled her close, dropping the rod. Majadi wept into his mane, reduced to tears by the comforting embrace. She grabbed him tightly, sobbing.

"Don't worry," said Nafsi, rubbing her back. "The pain is gone." He looked down at her as she brought her tearstained face up to look at him. "Do you love me?" She looked at Nafsi's face in horror, realizing who she was clinging to. She pushed away. Nafsi picked up the sibu again. "Don't you realize that your hate will only bring you pain?"

"No—no, Nafsi, please—" She stepped back, away from the rod.

Nafsi whipped it to her body. "You are to refer to me as _master_." He removed the rod. "Do you love me?"

He could see her weighing the options in her mind. If she said yes, then maybe, just maybe, he'd let her go—after he took her. "Yes," she finally said. "Yes, I—"

She screamed. "No. You don't. You waited far too long to answer. You won't escape by lying." He idly twirled the rod as he pressed it against her, seeing her pain increase to new, unthinkable levels. He finally removed it. "Don't you see that you only need love me? All of this hate, this bitter rage, it only brings you pain. Love me. Love me, Majadi. Honestly, truthfully love me." He raised the sibu again.

"Nafsi—Master—please. Master, don't do this."

"I only want to make you see," he said gently. "Do you love me? Be honest." His voice was tender, almost as if he was a mother speaking to her cub about how much she loved it.

"I want to. Really, Master, I want to."

"Do you? Or do you just want the pain to end?" Majadi hesitated. "_Complete_ honesty."

"The pain," she whispered.

Nafsi nodded solemnly. "It's good for you to be honest." He pressed the sibu against her again, Majadi throwing her head back with yet another shriek. "It will be so much easier if you're honest with yourself. Because I'll know. I'll know if you lie to me. And I'll know if you don't love me." He removed the rod again, Majadi letting herself be drawn close, weeping in his soft, caring embrace. "Do you love me?"

"No."

"Then I am sorry." He raised the sibu up to her neck, Majadi grabbing onto him, clinging to him desperately.

"Please, Master—please, I want to love you. Just don't do that again. Please don't do that again."

Nafsi looked at her, a look of honest regret on his face. "You must love me." She hung her head, sobbing from remembrance of the pain. Nafsi pressed the sibu to her neck, hearing her scream of pain again. He could barely suppress the sick smile that urged to creep across his face as he felt her shake in pain. He would put her in with the other lionesses after another hour, so she could see how rewarding he could be. She would love him. Adoringly, unconditionally, fiercely—and subserviently. She would never have the spirit of the other lionesses. She would be broken. But she would love him.

Three months later she walked back to her old den, transformed, a missionary to the lionesses, her hate changed to complete and utter love and devotion to her king. Her master.

oOo

Taabu woke up, hearing mutterings. There was Nafsi, in the middle of the den, sleeping a small distance away from his mother. He was twitching in his sleep, something Taabu had never known him to do. It was common enough among all animals, but Nafsi had never as much as moved a toe in her entire memory. Nevertheless, there he was, the twitches becoming more and more violent jerks. He was muttering one word over and over. "No . . . no . . ."

Taabu went to him as quickly as she could, carefully stepping over the other lionesses. "Nafsi," she whispered. He didn't wake up. Taabu cast a wary look at the slumbering king and queen before whispering slightly louder, "Nafsi." Nafsi opened an eyelid partially, the jerks and moaning continuing. "Nafsi."

Nafsi violently woke. He had no realization of what he was doing. A long, black edge came from his paw as he struck up, nearly going through Taabu. As it was, it cut her leg. She clenched her teeth in pain, willing herself to not scream. The years of discipline she had from Sibu had only been reinforced by Jadi's treatment of her. She was silent. Nevertheless, she slumped to the ground. A slight whimper came from her along with the blood.

Nafsi could only stare at what he had done. He had half a mind to simply leave her there and go back to sleep. He didn't know where that thought came from. But it firmly protested _She doesn't need help_. _Don't worry about her_. _She's only a servant to you_. _This is a wonderful opportunity for you_. _Use your gifts_. _Make her suffer even more_. _It will be fun_.

But it seemed so—heartless. For some odd reason, it made him sad to see her so obviously in pain. He didn't like that feeling. He got up and placed his paws on Taabu's wound, hearing her intake of breath as his paws touched the gash. He simply healed her, replaced the lost muscle and fur with new ones. It required no conscious effort. He simply thought of what he wanted to do, and it was done. But the shoulder was different. Instead of the usual tan it was now black, as black as Uchu, as black as the swath of fur overarching his back.

Taabu craned her head to look at the shoulder. She couldn't see the entire thing, but she could see some of it, the recent blood still there. But it no longer hurt. She looked back at Nafsi incredulously. He was now sitting down and staring at her. "You healed my leg?" she whispered.

Nafsi put a paw to his lips. _Quiet_. He mouthed, "Can you follow me, Grandma?" Taabu couldn't lip-read, but she nodded just the same. Nafsi weaved his way through the lionesses to the back of the den. Taabu followed him outside. He sat down at the edge of the ledge that was connected to the back of Pride Rock, staring at the moon. Taabu sat down next to him quietly. Finally she asked:

"Why did you do that?"

Nafsi looked away from the moon toward the ground. "I don't know. I was supposed to torture you a little more." He paused, his brow creasing. "I don't know why I helped you."

"Nafsi," Taabu said gently.

"Hmm?" he asked, his head jerking up.

"I meant why you hurt me."

Nafsi stared at the ground guiltily. "I lost control. And I shouldn't have."

"What were you dreaming about?"

Nafsi stared up at her, his eyes wide. "How did you know?"

"I went to wake you up. You were muttering. I wanted to help you."

"Oh." Nafsi went back to staring at the ground. He didn't speak for so long Taabu almost thought he'd forgotten the question. Just before she asked him again, he said, "We were right here. It was me, and this other lion. It was Akasare. And he was shining. And he said he wanted to help me. If I wanted to just tell him anything, or share anything, just to do it. I told him to leave. I didn't want him in my head. And he did. And then I didn't want him gone. There was something missing. I think Akasare was trying to be my friend. I looked all over for him, but he wasn't there." Nafsi fell silent. Taabu stared at him, her heart melting as it always did. After a few minutes he finally said, "I know why I helped you, Grandma."

"Why?"

"You're my friend, right?"

"Of course, Nafsi."

"That's why." Nafsi looked up at her with a smile. "You're my friend."

"Nafsi . . . do you really want to smile?"

The smile disappeared. "No. But it makes you feel better."

Taabu looked at him sadly. "Nafsi, it doesn't. I want you to smile when you actually feel like it. I don't want you to lie to me like that."

"Yes, ma'am." He hung his head in thought. "Grandma, why don't I have friends?"

"You have me.

"I think you'd be my friend anyway."

Taabu looked at the cub sadly. No cub should have to ask that question, and not with that much knowledge. Whatever Uchu had done to this cub, she had done nothing kind. "Nafsi . . . you just have to be nice to others. Maybe try a little."

"But what was wrong with my new friend?"

"Nafsi, you can't just create friends. You have to make them." Taabu laughed at the utter lack of sense her words made. "I mean, you have to make a relationship. You have to give them something to start with. It's just . . . a little harder . . ." She couldn't bear to finish the sentence.

Nafsi looked up at her, his eyes filling with tears. "Grandma, I want a friend. So badly. And I'll never have one. I've never seen me have one. But I want one."

Half of what he said made no sense to Taabu. She didn't know about his visions. "Nafsi, you're just different."

The tears flowed down his face. "Grandma, it hurts so much. I—I—" He closed his eyes, looking away, his body heaving. Taabu moved to embrace him when he looked back up at her, his face twisted into horrible, heartbreaking features she had never seen before. "Look in there," he said, waving a paw at the den. "Look at those cubs. They're all so happy. And their faces . . . they're all so peaceful, and happy. They don't have a care in the world. Why can't I be like that, Grandma? I didn't ask to be able to understand this. I didn't ask to be hated. I didn't ask to be friendless. Why do I have to be so alone? I want a friend. It hurts so much." He bit his lip, the tears not stopping.

Taabu wrapped her leg around him, pulling him close. She rubbed him gently. "I'm so sorry, Nafsi. I know it's not right. I'm sorry."

"Why do I feel like this? Why?!"

"It's okay to feel, Nafsi. It's good."

"Then why does it feel so bad?!"

Taabu didn't have an answer.

"Dad is right. I should just let it go. If it feels like this . . . I don't want to feel, Grandma!"

Taabu nuzzled Nafsi gently. "Nafsi, there's nothing better than a friend. Even your mother has friends, heartless as she is. She has your father. You need a friend."

"I know . . . I know . . ."

"Just . . . just try, Nafsi. For me. All you need to do is try. It will all be better if you try."

"Grandma . . . it hurts so much . . . so much . . ."

"Shh . . ." Taabu gently eased Nafsi to the ground. "It'll get better. Just remember, I'm here." Nafsi's sobs slowly eased away as he fell asleep to Taabu's rocking. "It'll be okay. I promise." Taabu slowly fell asleep herself. When she woke the next morning he was gone.

oOo

Uwivu was Tumai's daughter, and an exact miniature of her. Her father, unlike most of the other cubs, was not Jadi. It was Akasare. Her conception hadn't been pleasant, either. It had happened the first night that Akasare had come back to life. Tumai still believed she loved him. She ignored the fact that Jadi had torn Taraju and Akasare apart, and had only resurrected evil.

She had taken him that night to where they had spent their first night alone as cubs, completely by accident. She told him how much she had missed him, how she had longed for him. He told her in no uncertain terms that he did not love her, but still did admire her, for all the wrong reasons, despite her being nearly twice his age. If Tumai had not believed him then, she certainly did when he wrestled her down and took her forcibly. It had been anything but the romantic evening she had hoped for, full of only pain and misery and Akasare's promise that she would bear his son, the future king of the Outlands.

Tumai had never had cubs before, despite multiple heats and copulations with Fujo and Kovu. It was believed she was barren. Tumai prayed she was. She prayed that she was too old to have cubs. She prayed that the gods to have mercy on her, to not let her bear the monster's cubs.

Her belly grew. The cubs were born. But the gods had some mercy. There was no son. Tumai watched as her three girls attached themselves hungrily to her stomach and felt their comforting warmth by her side. She smiled. She was a mother. They may have been forced on her, but she would love them. She looked up to see Akasare's happy face. "And which one is my son?" he asked.

"There—there was no son," said Tumai, afraid of what Akasare would do.

He took her face in his paw so she stared him in the eye. "What?"

"I—I didn't have a son."

Akasare threw her head angrily to the ground. "You are _worthless_." The cubs squalled being separated from their mother when she was knocked to the ground. Akasare looked at the girls in disgust. He brought down his paw on one, crushing her fragile body. Tumai let out a cry as Akasare walked out of the den.

If Akasare had moved his paw six inches it would have been Uwivu that hadn't lived, not her unnamed sister. But as it was, she did live, her and her sister Chungu. Tumai raised them carefully and loved them relentlessly despite who their father was. Uwivu loved her mother back, and loved her mother and her sister more than anything. She always felt what her mother felt about anything, especially concerning the royalty. She hated the king and queen with a bitter passion. She hated the prince especially, the unfeeling, arrogant prince. She did her best to protect her mother and her sister from their anger, and took more than one punishment, despite her mother's protests afterwards and before. She brought them meat when she was old enough, and did swore that she would do her best to raise her sister and let her elderly mother die in peace. She was a natural leader, and soon had the other cubs following her. If Akasare had waited, he would have seen that Uwivu was twice the ruler that any son would have been.

But, like all cubs, her thoughts weren't on the kingdom and all its affairs. When she wasn't worrying about her sister and mother, she wanted to play. She didn't know the happy days before Jadi; all she knew was misery and fear. But she did her best to stay happy, to keep all her friends happy. They scampered off into the savannah alone, in their little group, wrestling and laughing and playing and poking, her and all of the cubs. Every cub in the den was welcome. Except Nafsi. None of them wanted anything to do with him. If they angered him, or even annoyed him, who knew what Jadi would do?

Uwivu ran happily through the grass. The game today was tag. One of the unspoken rules of tag was that you wanted to be it. It was so much more fun that way. She ran just fast enough for the cub behind her to catch her one-year-old body. The overenthusiastic cub tackled her to the ground. "Gotcha!" the cub yelled.

"It was lucky!" protested Uwivu.

"Yeah, sure," said the cub. She yelled, "New game! Back to the tree!" Distant shouts of the same words echoed through the savannah. The cubs all met by Rafiki's old tree. Barely any of them were old enough to have met the shaman, and none of them were old enough to remember him. It was just a great big tree they all knew. Nothing special.

There was, however, something special by the tree. None of the cubs had noticed it before. When Uwivu and the cub that had caught her came to the tree they heard a shout of "Hey! Come here!" Uwivu and the cub that had caught her went to the other side of the tree. There, in a nook formed by two roots, was a group of flowers none of the cubs had seen before. To most of the cubs they were just something new and interesting.

To Uwivu they were amazing. "They're . . . beautiful," she whispered. They were a light blue color, their petals streaked with small lines of white, their heads yearning for the sun like sunflowers.

"Aw, they're nothing special," said one of the cubs. "But I wonder why we didn't see 'em before?"

Uwivu turned to the cub. "But can't you just look at them? They're so pretty." She turned back to the flowers. "They're beautiful."

"They're pretty, Uwivu. That's all," said Chungu.

Uwivu turned to her sister. "Maybe to you. It's not my fault you were born with bad taste."

"Uh, since we all agree, wouldn't you have bad taste?" Uwivu gave a _hmph_. "And I think you're just trying to get out of being 'it.'"

"Oh, yeah? Well—" Uwivu stopped abruptly when she saw Nafsi quietly coming toward the group. "What do _you_ want?" she asked rudely.

"I was just wondering if I . . . if you'd let me play with you?" Nafsi asked timidly.

Uwivu laughed. "And why would we want a freak like you with us?"

The other cubs gasped. Uwivu's arrogance was going to hurt them all. "Uwivu," cautioned Chungu.

"But—why?" asked Nafsi.

"Why? Why should we let you?" Uwivu said contemptuously. "You're a little freak, that's all you are. It's your fault we have to hide. We hate you, _prince_." She spat out the word. "Why don't you go make some more of your little monsters?"

"Uwivu, careful," said a cub. "He'll—"

"He'll what? He won't do anything. Look at him. He's a midget. I'm younger than him and I'm twice his size. You—are—a—freak." She relished the way Nafsi seemed to shrink back from her words. "Come on, girls. Let's go somewhere where we won't be bothered by freaks."

The cubs followed her into the grass, congratulating her when they thought they were far enough away for Nafsi not to hear. He heard every word. He listened to their happy voices go and sighed. He just wanted to be their friend. His eyes fell on the flowers that had gained so much interest. His eyes lit up. He'd bring her a present. She liked these, he'd heard her. He sat down next to the flowers and began to study them.

oOo

Uwivu walked toward the den with her sister. She was tired from playing all day. She didn't want to go home, though. She wanted to stay out and play all through the night like any other cub would. But she was forced to come home. Tumai didn't want her out after dark. There was one advantage to this, though. Uwivu did enjoy watching the sunset.

Uwivu's sister climbed up the ramp of Pride Rock, Uwivu about to follow. She stopped when she heard a quiet "Uwivu?" She turned to see Nafsi next to her, sitting as if he'd been there all along. She suddenly recalled he had been. She did her best to ignore the hated—thing.

"What?" she asked, her anger boiling up again.

"I . . . I brought flowers," said Nafsi quietly. He put his paw in front of him and then swept it back toward himself. A tiny bud appeared in the grass, completely black. It grew becoming an exact replica of the flowers that had been found earlier. But they were black, all of them. The plant recoiled its petals, detesting the last rays of the setting sun. Nafsi looked at them proudly, then up at Uwivu hopefully.

Uwivu stared at them, her face blank. Her features suddenly twisted themselves into disgust. "They're hideous," she said. She turned away from them and walked away, up to the den. Nafsi hung his head.

"What's that, Nafsi?" Nafsi looked up to see Taabu standing above him.

"Flowers, Grandma. For a friend."

Taabu smiled. "Who?"

"Grandma, she hated them!"

Taabu looked down at him sadly. She gave him a gentle lick. "It won't be easy, Nafsi. You just have to try again." She picked him up by the scruff of his neck, his body going limp in her teeth. He sighed. He would try again.

oOo

Uwivu woke up with an urgent need in her bladder. She got up and left the den quietly, by herself. She didn't need to wake up her mother. She was one year old; she could handle a trip to the grasses just fine, thank you very much. But whether she liked it or not, she was going to have company. She walked down the stairs and poked her father in the face. Akasare opened his eyes angrily. "What?" he snarled.

Uwivu wasn't intimidated. If he killed her, he killed her. There would be nothing she could do to stop him. "I need to go."

Akasare sighed. "Then go." Uwivu made a show of squatting. "Don't be an ass."

"You know I can't leave. Not without you, Aka."

Akasare groaned. He slept down here for a reason. Pofu had been moved up to the den just for him. It was his job to make sure lionesses and cubs didn't run off during the night. He enjoyed the job, scaring the ones that forgot to ask him. But there was no fun in killing them, he'd found that out fast. There simply was no thrill. But there were nights like these, nights where he didn't feel like getting up to escort cubs to the loo. "Go by yourself. If you're not here in three minutes, I come kill you. Problem solved."

"Alright. I'll just tell Jadi in the morning what you did. Or maybe he'll find me tonight."

Akasare turned onto his back. "Jadi doesn't give a damn. Besides, I can't be replaced."

"You really think so? What's to stop him from killing you and bringing you back again?"

Akasare looked at her with a scowl. "I really wish I'd killed you." He rolled over and escorted her away from Pride Rock, waited for her to finish her business, and led her back to the ramp. He stopped at the ramp and looked down at her to find she wasn't there. He looked behind him to see that she had stopped. She was looking at the flowers Nafsi had created. The moonlight illuminated them as the moon crept from behind a cloud. The flowers opened their petals, leaning toward the moon. Uwivu watched in awe.

"Beautiful," she whispered. _He made that for me?_ She shook her head. Horrible animals could make decent things, she was living proof of that. She walked up the ramp to the pleasure of an impatient Akasare. She stopped at the top, took one last look at the flowers, then went back to her mother.

oOo

Nafsi believed in aiming high. That was the only logical explanation Taabu could come up with. He was three and a half now, and for the whole year he had down nothing but try to befriend Uwivu. Uwivu told him in no uncertain terms that she hated him, that she despised his very existence. Tumai actually got up the nerve to hit Nafsi, making him roll across the den. Somehow Jadi found out about it and beat Taabu bloody for it. After that she never touched Nafsi again. But Nafsi hadn't told his father, he knew he hadn't. Nafsi was nothing but nice to Tumai.

But Taabu was worried. Sometimes she doubted whether it was actually above Nafsi to tell his father what happened. She didn't know whose ideas he leaned toward, hers or Jadi's. He knew he had an amazing mind. He always had. She remembered the first time he had talked. It hadn't been "Mommy" or "Daddy" like it would have been for so many other animals. It was "Grandma, could you take me for a walk, please?" She had stared at him so long, amazed, that he had to ask her if she was alright. The way he soaked up ideas and thoughts scared her.

She was especially worried about Nafsi's emotions. The closest thing she had seen to rage was, according to him, "frustration." Despite the fact that Nafsi could feel no sadness, his loneliness was enough to gnaw away at anyone's heart. He didn't have a friend in the world, save for her. She was only his grandmother, though, not his true friend. He realized that. He needed someone his age. It might have been enough for Taabu to handle his intelligence, but not that and his emotions. Nafsi was alarmingly smart, startlingly emotional, and demanded answers.

Taabu recalled vividly the day Nafsi became the angriest she'd seen. It was his second birthday. Taabu remembered with sadness how he looked on his third birthday. He hadn't grown at all. It was bad enough that Nafsi had already grown slowly; at one year he was the size of a nine-month-old. But to be have caught up to the normal size at two years, and then just having _stopped_ . . . Taabu recalled bitterly how Nafsi had told her that Uchu made him this way, that it was perfectly normal for him to stop growing, and not to be worried because he was happy this way.

_You aren't_, Taabu had thought bitterly. _You don't even know what happiness is_.

But his third birthday was the day that he really scared her. She was alone in the den. She had been injured on the last hunt and couldn't move. It was predictable. She grew older, she slowed down. But Jadi insisted that she hunt. She had been carried back, and today was alone in the den. Nafsi had walked in, his face a frown. "Happy birthday, Nafsi," she said.

"Is it?" he asked grumpily.

"Well, yes. I can't believe you didn't remember your own birthday."

He looked at her angrily. "Is it happy, Grandma? Is it? Really?"

"Uh . . . well, are you happy?"

"No. I'm not. I am anything but happy. I'm frustrated, Grandma. I'm not angry, but I am getting very, very close to it."

"Why?" Taabu stretched out a foreleg and pulled him close. "Tell your grandmother all about it."

He twisted away from her, something he'd never done. She was shocked. "Yes, it's 'let's help the old lioness,' isn't it? How about 'let's help Nafsi'? 'Let's be nice to Nafsi'? 'Let's play with Nafsi'? 'Let's be Nafsi's FRIEND!!'"

"Nafsi," said Taabu quietly, "I know it may hurt, but—"

"Hurt? _Hurt?_ Grandma, it's killing me! I've tried to be friends with them, I've tried to be nice, I've tried to do everything you've suggested, but they hate me! Why, why, why, _why_, WHY?!" He whacked his paw against the floor of the den angrily.

Taabu bit her lip. She'd seen Nafsi do some very strange and alarming things. She didn't know what he would do now if provoked. "Nafsi, I told you it'd be hard. They don't trust you. They can't. Your parents—"

"Oh, shut UP! Shut up, Grandma! Just shut up! Nothing you've ever said has done me any good. It serves me right for listening to some old lioness. Maybe Mom and Dad were right."

"Nafsi . . . do you really mean that?"

"It's how I feel, Grandma! Like nothing you've done for me has amounted to anything. You've given me advice. You say you've given me love, whatever that is. But it doesn't WORK!" He sat down, shaking his head. When he looked back up at her, his eyes brimmed with tears that seeped into his voice. "Why, Grandma?" he pleaded. "Why doesn't this work? Have you been lying to me? Do you just want me to be miserable?"

"Nafsi, come here," she said gently. She held out her foreleg. He went to it, let her pull him close. She felt his tears on her leg. "Nafsi, I want you to be happy. As happy as you can be. And if that just means that I can make you feel no sadness, just feel nothing, then that will have to do. I can only tell you what I already have. Keep trying."

"I want to hurt them, Grandma. I want to make them see. I don't want to be hated."

Taabu gave him a warm, gentle lick. "Nafsi, whatever you do, you mustn't hurt them. No matter what your parents say, no matter what your feelings say, please, don't touch them."

He looked up at her sadly. "That means I can do nothing."

Taabu swallowed back her tears. "That means you can try. You'll break through, Nafsi. Just remember that I'm here." She rocked him back and forth. "For whatever it's worth, just remember that I love you. I know it may not mean much, but I love you."

Nafsi buried his head in her leg. "I'm sorry, Grandma. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry."

By the time the hunters came back, he was normal, all traces of tears or sadness gone. Taabu knew better. She knew his loneliness ate away at him. She had watched as he tried to get help from his parents. They had done nothing for him. "You have no equal," they said. "You can have no friends." She watched as Nafsi took her advice, and she thanked Aiheu for it. She didn't realize that Nafsi tried over and over only because it was the only way he knew.

But despite what Nafsi thought, he did begin to chip away at Uwivu. She let none of it show. She reminded herself that he was no better than his parents, that he wanted to simply use her. But she was touched by the kindness that he showed. She enjoyed the way that he exercised his powers to make little gifts, little things he thought she liked. She enjoyed the way that he was polite to her, the little touches such as giving her some of his exorbitant carcass when he saw she was starving, given only a few scraps of meat by Jadi for her mother's occasional punishment. She almost loved him when he gave her food; it meant that her mother would eat instead of giving it all to her cubs.

But despite her thankfulness, she let none of it show. She mocked him, ridiculed him, insulted him, and could tell herself she hated him and make herself believe it. She looked down at his two-year-old body, his advanced mind that was too intelligent for any body, let alone that pathetic one, and would tell him that he was a freak, something that should have never been created, and she would say it with every ounce of hate and spite she could muster. She would leave him alone and walk into the grass and hear him weep, thinking she couldn't hear him, and would hear him pound his little paws on the trees and ground in frustration. She would hear him ask quietly, "Why? For what reason?" Sometimes she would go away smiling. Others she would be sickened with herself. The latter became more and more frequent.

But then came the day that she honestly thought of stopping her cruelty to Nafsi. It changed the way everyone looked at him. That was the day that everyone realized just how dangerous Nafsi could be.


	5. Nafsi

Chapter V: Nafsi

Nafsi was three years, six months, fourteen days. _Or now, fifteen days_, he thought, yawning and stretching. His age was automatic for him; every day he simply added another day, and subtracted another one from his third birthday. He would change on his fourth birthday; he would finally grow up. But today, he still had five months, sixteen days to go.

He looked outside to see his father waiting for him, Simo giving him the report of the kingdom. He walked outside, hearing Simo say, ". . . so they really can't _not_ overhunt, sire. If you want my opinion—"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Simo, I don't want your opinion," said Jadi. "Your opinions have already gotten you into quite a bit of trouble. I thought Uchu had taught you to keep you place. I would hate for you to have to join Maafa in hell."

Simo swallowed, taken aback by the viciousness Jadi displayed. He wasn't sure if Uchu would allow him to be killed or not. But she had told him to be submissive to Jadi. "Yes, sire," he said loyally.

Jadi smiled. He looked down at his son. He didn't say "Good morning" or "How nice to see you." He simply said, "Come, Nafsi." He walked away from Pride Rock, Nafsi following.

"Sire—" began Simo.

"Deal with it. I know you'd rather handle it yourself."

"Yes, sire," he said. He turned into the den to get Akasare to accompany him.

Jadi continued walking with his son by his side. Nafsi waited patiently for him to begin the lesson. Jadi stared at the ground, his brow furrowed. He finally seemed to make up his mind and asked, "Nafsi, do you remember what I've taught you?"

"Yes, Dad."

Jadi looked down, alarmed by the title suddenly bestowed upon him. Nafsi never referred to him as "Dad." But Nafsi was simply looking at the ground as he always did. "How much?"

"Every word, Father."

That was better. "Really?"

"Yes. Every single word."

"Nafsi, what do you think of me as a king?"

Nafsi looked up at him. "Father?"

"By what I have taught you, what do you think of me?"

"You're weak, Father. You say that a king should rule with a paw of stone, and should have a heart as cold as his paw when it comes to the kingdom. He should show his subjects no mercy; that they are only there for him to use, for his goals or his amusement. He should make all subjects know their duty to him, and if they waver they should be punished. You follow this, Father, but you make exceptions. The subjects fear you, but you still use Simo for reports, and more than once a day. If you followed what you teach, you would only need a report once a month; the subjects would never create problems, knowing your wrath. You are a weak king, Father."

Jadi smiled. "It's good that you know that. But do you know why I'm weak with the kingdom?"

"I think so. It's because _you're_ weak, Father. You can't do it."

"That's right. I can't rule like that. I can make the subjects fear me for my amusement, but that's all. I cannot stomach what I would have to do to follow what I teach. I allow unrest. I am weak." Jadi looked down at his son with a smile. "You, however, are not. You will only want that when you grow up. You will crave their fear; you will only wish you could make them fear you more. Your power will be greater than I can imagine. I doubt even your mother knows the power you will have. I've seen you do some truly amazing things, son. Your power, your control . . . You will be a great king, Nafsi. You will rule like no other." He looked down at his son, expecting to see at least the faintest glow from the praise. Nafsi kept walking as if Jadi had said nothing important. "But to be a king, you must use the power you're given. You hold life and death over your subjects' heads, Nafsi. Why?"

"Fear and respect."

"Good. How do you do this?"

"However you like. Torture, blackmail, pain and . . . death."

Jadi smiled. What a wonderful list. "Why do you hesitate?"

"I don't understand killing, Father."

Jadi was mildly surprised. "What do you mean?"

"It seems that the animal would be more—useful if you let them live. If you just maimed them, for example."

"That may be. But wounds heal, son. You are forced to kill, so that your subjects will fear you even more. Some animals fear no pain. Every animal fears death. If you show them that death is the punishment, only a very, very few will ever cross you. Make it a horrible death, a long, slow, gruesome, painful death, and none will ever do it at all."

"But Father, what about Simo? He's the only cheetah left in the Pridelands. You killed his parents in front of him, killed his last sister in front of him, but he still defied you, until Mother changed him. You know he wants to would want to kill you if she hadn't condition."

"That is what it looks like, isn't it? Simo hates me. Bitterly. But even without the conditioning, he would never, ever touch me. He is afraid. That fear overcomes his hate. That is the price you pay. You will have subjects that hate you. But you, son, you will overcome that. You will kill the ones who think little of you; you will make sure that all will love you."

"But wouldn't more killing only create more bitterness?"

"That is where their fear of you drives them back. Soon they will be afraid to feel anything but love for their king, overwhelming devotion. Instant death awaits anything else."

"So you kill . . . to make them love you?"

Jadi smiled. "That is a way you could put it. But there are other reasons for killing, too."

"Like what?"

"Well, there is the obvious reason. Need. To kill or be killed, and all the variations that come with it. Us hunting animals for food. Forcing the cubs to fight over meat simply so they'll have something in their stomach. A mother pushing her cubs out into the wild for the simple reason that she can't catch enough food for both them and her. Two animals, killing each other over a prized object, or simply because they are forced to by someone else."

Nafsi stared at the ground, thinking. "Didn't you say there was more than one reason? Besides need?"

Jadi smiled. "There is one other that I can think of right now. Enjoyment. Pure bliss. Nafsi, killing is one of the most wonderful things in the world. Akasare knows this. He kills out of addiction. He feels wonderful lust for the hunt. He catches his prey and tears them apart, hungering for their blood. I kill for amusement. To see the horror on their faces. To smile as they fight back, desperately praying for escape. To watch them thrash wildly as they slowly, painfully die. It's amusing. When I killed my father, I think I finally understood that. I could have let him die quickly, but I chose to watch him gag, to watch him thrash. It's a wonderful thing, Nafsi."

The walk was over. They ascended the ramp to Pride Rock. Uwivu was coming out of the den, and hurriedly got out of their path. "Is it really that good, Father?"

"It's beyond words, Nafsi." Jadi stopped and looked at Uwivu in a way she didn't like at all. "So show me what you've learned today, Nafsi."

"Father?"

"Kill her."

Uwivu gasped as her head snapped down to Nafsi. She knew better that to plead with Jadi. But she was barely three, only a couple of months over. She had no right to die. Nafsi looked at her and then up to his father. "Father . . ."

"Kill her, Nafsi."

"But—why?"

Jadi smiled. "You can choose. Need or pleasure."

Nafsi looked back at Uwivu. To her credit, she maintained a straight face; only her wild eyes showed her fear. _He'll do it_. _He's been waiting for this_. _He'll do it for how I've treated him_. Nafsi stared at her, then looked back up at his father. "I can't."

"It's simple. I've seen you use your power. Use it now. Break her neck. Cut open her heart. Drive through her stomach. Do it any way you please."

"Dad . . . please. I can't."

Jadi's eyes flashed angrily. "You refuse?"

"I don't want to. She's . . . she's my friend."

Jadi's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in anger. "Friend." He raised his paw to strike Uwivu.

"Dad, no!" Jadi looked down at his son in disgust. "Please."

Jadi couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Akasare!" he roared.

Akasare walked out of the den. "Sire."

"Take my son to the pool."

"Yes, sire." Akasare waited for Nafsi to walk obediently down the stairs first, then followed him. Uwivu watched them go, amazed. Nafsi was suddenly removed from her vision as Jadi's paw whipped across her face. She fell to the ground, a gasp of pain escaping her. More noises escaped her as Jadi hit her again and again.

Nafsi was angry. He knew exactly what Jadi was during as soon as he heard Uwivu's first scream. He wanted to go back and stop it. He kept walking. He didn't know if his father would kill her or not. But if he did . . . well, Nafsi wasn't sure what he'd do. He could see the spire that housed the pool looming in the distance, growing bigger and bigger. He looked up at Akasare by his side. "Why is my father angry at me?"

Akasare looked down at him. "You really don't know?"

"Is it because I refused to hurt Uwivu?"

"So that's what you did? Huh. Well, that's only the tip of the iceberg. But it's probably what set him off."

"What's an iceberg?"

"A huge floating piece of ice. Something I died on. Repeatedly."

"What's ice?"

"Solid water."

"How can water be solid?"

"When it gets really cold. Now do you want me to answer your question of not?"

"Why the tip of the iceberg?"

Akasare groaned. Any other cub he would have given a good smack, the kind that broke necks. But he was scared of Nafsi. "Forget it. He's angry at you for a lot more than just that."

"What?"

"You're soft."

"I prefer squishy."

"You're weak, prince. You should have killed her right there. You should have killed her a long time ago. The cubs should fear you. They don't. And above all, you shouldn't have called her your friend. I heard that much."

"Why not?"

"Nafsi, you weren't born. You were created. You did come out of Uchu, but you probably spent well over four months in her, just being made."

"I know. She said it took almost a year."

"The point is, you are perfect. In theory. Your mother made every bit of you, especially your mind. You shouldn't feel loneliness. You should want to beat those cubs into the ground instead."

"I do want to. But it seems . . . heartless." Akasare laughed. "What? What's so funny?"

"Not really funny. More ironic." He laughed again. "You, having a heart. What do you know about kindness? I really doubt you know the first thing."

"I . . . I don't."

"Then why didn't you kill Uwivu?"

"Because then I wouldn't have her as a friend." Nafsi paused. "Isn't that kindness?"

"It's selfishness, Prince. I doubt you have ever had an unselfish thought in your life. Do you know what your life will be like six months from now?"

"I . . . I have dreams. Visions. When I grow up, I'll destroy the Pridelands. I'll kill my parents. The pool will go into me, all of it. They'll die without it. You'll die as well. I'll slaughter the den, Grandma first. I'll burn the Great Tree. It'll be the only thing left standing after I'm done."

"But do you know what will happen then?"

"Bits and pieces."

"You shouldn't even exist, Prince. You're part lion, part pool. It isn't right. You have unimaginable power. You'll conquer the world. You'll live forever. It won't be enjoyable. It'll be a half-life, a weary life with no happiness, only pleasure from their suffering. At least, I wouldn't like it. But you . . . you'll thrive on it. But there's one little problem. That's how it's supposed to go. You aren't as you're supposed to be. Ever dream about that?"

Nafsi looked at the ground, worried by the amount of Akasare's knowledge. "Yes. I—I would have killed Uwivu by now. The first time she crossed me . . . I should have killed her. Frozen her completely, like stone. But clear."

"Ice."

"Yes . . . ice." Nafsi looked up at Akasare. "How do you know so much?"

"I've died. The gods know what you are. I found out when I was up there. Jadi brought me back. But I'm not too worried about you. Except about the dying again part. You'll bring me back. I hope." They walked into the cave. Nafsi looked at the pool nervously. It was the only thing that made him feel anything approaching fear. "Because it won't matter, those little flaws of yours. When you grow, you will be so overwhelmed by hate and anger and lust that all else will be drowned, barely there if at all." He looked down at Nafsi. "The hate will win out."

"But what if it doesn't?"

"Then this should fix it." He hit Nafsi into the pool and walked out of the cave. "Some, at least."

oOo

Nafsi hated being in the pool. His father encouraged it. It was the only time he spent with Nafsi other than when he taught him to be a king. The pool overwhelmed Nafsi, amplified his emotions. The older he became, the more effect the pool had on him. It felt to Nafsi as if it was tearing him apart, completely destroying who he was.

The pool knew Nafsi was made wrong, even if his parents didn't see it. It tried to repair Nafsi. Nafsi fought against it desperately. He wanted to remain him. He wasn't quite sure why, but he did. It was only instinctual survival. But even though Nafsi escaped from the pool unchanged every time, there would always be those emotions. The pool seemed to change his loneliness into things it found more appealing. Nafsi felt them welling up in him now. The hatred. The anger. The urge to destroy those against him.

Nafsi emerged on the surface of the pool, his teeth bared in anger. He usually felt the emotions disappear fairly soon, almost as soon as he left the pool. They stayed this time. Nafsi left the den, angry. Furious at Akasare for pushing him in. Furious at Jadi for beating Uwivu. Furious at Uwivu for never, ever doing a single thing for him. Furious—no, no, _enraged_—at Taabu for her useless advice, for her stupidity, for taking advantage of his naïveté. All of the fury he had suppressed had swum to the surface. Nafsi let it stay. With any luck, some of it would cool off on the walk back. In the meantime, he would hate the world with every step he took.

The day would have been uneventful if it hadn't been for a wildebeest. Nafsi walked by it, ignoring it. He couldn't ignore, however, the sarcastic remark of "Oh, look at the _prince_." Nafsi looked up at it, his anger rising. "Going back to your daddy?"

"Una, be quiet," reprimanded another wildebeest, a female.

"Why should I? We've suffered under his father long enough." Una looked down at Nafsi and spit at him. Nafsi felt it strike his cheek. "You're filth, that's all you are."

"Una," begged the female. She turned to Nafsi. "Please, sire, ignore him. Please don't hurt us."

"Oh, shut up," Una said. He hit Nafsi with a hoof. "He's pathetic. And this is the prince. You're a little freak. That's all you are. And you expect me to bow to you." Nafsi tried to ignore it, literally shaking with rage. He turned to Pride Rock. "Yeah, go back to Mommy with the story of how a little wildebeest hurt me _so bad_, and won't you just kills me and say it's all right? Pathetic! And they expect us to bow to you!"

Una gasped as Nafsi turned his head to him, Nafsi's features that of utter rage. Una cried out in pain as a spike pierced his side, causing him to fall to the ground. But Nafsi wasn't finished. There was an entire herd of wildebeest.

The female next to Una had run back toward the herd. Fire suddenly leapt up her body. She screamed in pain. Nafsi ran toward the herd. He threw back a paw, the claws lengthened enormously by black matter. He swung it, felling a dozen wildebeest. The herd stampeded. Nafsi held up a paw, several wildebeest being encased in ice, knocked over, and trampled to bits. More had fire consume their bodies. Black matter twisted, broke, impaled, strangled. The wildebeest didn't fall one by one, they fell in masses. Lightning played from the sunny sky, slaughtering them. Their screams of pain filled the air, music to Nafsi's ears, urging him on further and further.

Finally, the last one fell. Nafsi's chest heaved, not from effort, but from rage. It felt so good to unleash it upon them, to finally make someone pay for what he felt, for the indecencies done to him.

"Unh . . ." Nafsi turned around to see a wildebeest on the ground, his chest heaving, away from the others. Nafsi walked over to it. It was Una. He looked up at Nafsi, his eyes wild with fear. "Please," he begged. "Please, I didn't mean it, please don't kill me. I'm begging you." Nafsi's mouth curled into a snarl. "No . . ." Nafsi raised back his paw. "No, please!" Una barely had time to look up into the sky to see the meteor form before it was hurled down to the earth.

oOo

Jadi was furious. "This isn't supposed to happen! You said this wasn't even possible!"

"It isn't," said Uchu. "He is—"

"He is _not_ perfect! He is flawed! He's sympathetic! He wants friends! That—is—not—perfect!"

"He shouldn't be feeling those emotions."

"But he is!"

Taabu smiled. She had never seen the two of them blow up at each other. The entire den was enjoying it. Even poor Uwivu, even through the pain of her beaten body, she was smiling. They all earnestly prayed that one would kill the other over this. "He doesn't understand his emotions," said Uchu patiently. "They're the most unstable part of him. He goes to extremes. He can feel immense amounts of anger and hate. The only thing that keeps it back is a barrier. If it snaps, so will he. It's what makes him so dangerous."

"He doesn't get angry! He doesn't get anything! Not happy, not sad—"

"I wouldn't yell at me like that," said Uchu coldly. Jadi gasped as he was pinned to the ground by black matter. "You mustn't forget your place."

Jadi struggled against the matter, unable to move. "Let me up!" he snarled. The pressure increased and he let out a gasp of pain.

Uchu smiled. "And what have we learned?"

"I—I won't yell at you."

"Good." The bonds vanished. "Because I _will_ kill you."

Jadi stood up, stunned by the cold in her voice. "Well, what's wrong with Nafsi?" he asked. Politely.

"I don't know. His mind should make him belligerent, resentful that he has to obey you. But it's possible that he simply is learning from you, and will kill you as soon as he feels you're no longer of any value. It's possible that he simply doesn't feel a need to kill. There are more efficient ways to break someone than losing their loved ones."

"But he doesn't do anything! He doesn't react at all! If he—"

"Sire."

Jadi turned to see Akasare sting in the mouth of the den. "Where is my son?"

"I put him in the pool, as requested."

"You left him there?!"

"Yes, sire. Put him in and came back . . . with a few side trips."

"Bring him back! Now! I want to talk to him!"

"Sire?"

"I said—" Jadi stopped, seeing a small burst of color above Akasare's shoulder. He squinted to make it out. "What . . ." There were more flashes of blue and red. Jadi walked past Akasare. "What is that?"

"I don't know, sire."

Lighting rained from the sky, hitting where the flashes were earlier. "What in Aiheu's unholy name . . ." Jadi and Akasare gasped as the rock fell from the sky, staring at the devastation in wonder for a second before they were thrown back by the shockwave. Every lioness in the den, lying down or standing, tumbled toward the back of the den. Jadi got up and looked back at what had happened. A gigantic crater stood in the Pridelands, the land around it charred black. Flames leapt along the outside, while the inside poured out smoke.

Jadi ran off Pride Rock toward the crater. He stopped at she reached the edge of the scorched ground around it, feeling his paws burn. They were lucky it had rained recently; the fire didn't spread too far. The smoke moved oddly on the edge of the crater, and Jadi watched in amazement as his son walked out of it, trailing smoke from a body that had black wisps playing over it, healing the damage. Nafsi walked straight for his father, toward Pride Rock. "Nafsi . . ." Jadi whispered.

"Get out of the way," said Nafsi coldly. Jadi hurriedly moved, Nafsi walking past him. Jadi paused and looked back at the destruction he had created. Hundreds of animals would have died from this. Jadi followed his son home, smiling.

oOo

Two figures stood on a nearby scorched hill, unaffected by the heat. Auras shone around both of them, one aura far brighter than the subdued other. "I can't believe this," said Ilemi. He turned to look at Aiheu, the lion's face grave. "He did all of this. As a cub."

Aiheu sighed. "Yes." He looked down at the retreating cub, followed by his father. "It is incredible."

"How could this have possibly happened?"

"He has power. He always has. He never used it." Aiheu shook his head. "He'll only grow stronger after he grows up. And when he does . . ."

"It's the end of the world?" Ilemi asked sarcastically.

"It very well may be."

oOo

Simo walked into the den. It was a little over five months since Soul's Crater had been created. The smoke had finally stopped three months ago. It was now cool enough to walk into. If anyone actually felt like walking into that pit. Countless animals had died in the blast. Simo had smiled when he saw the prince next, and commented on the excellent piece of work he had done. Nafsi had been silent. Simo had continued on his way. Nafsi had never taken praise well. He didn't seem to even take it. Comments on the things that should have made him happiest only made him silent, almost moody.

Simo walked into the den. He should have waited outside. Jadi looked up as he entered, surprised to see Simo in the den this early in the morning. He wasn't too shocked however, to remind Simo, "Simo, you mustn't forget to bow when you enter."

Simo bowed low. "Your pardon, sire."

"Where were you yesterday?" demanded Jadi. "You never came to the den."

"I took the day off."

Black matter leapt up Simo as he gasped. "You're feeling awfully brave today, Simo."

"Sire?" said Simo. He tried to use as little breath as possible.

"I thought I made it quite clear to you that you have no freedom. You serve me unquestioningly."

"Sire, I was exhausted—"

"That is no excuse!"

"The queen said I could go."

The black matter disappeared. "What?" hissed Jadi.

"She—she said I could take the day off. That I shouldn't work so hard when I was this tired. As a reward. Sire."

The black matter reappeared, crushing in on Simo. "You obey _me!_" said Jadi furiously. "I am the _king!_"

"Sire . . ."

"She bows to me, as do _you!_"

"Sire, please . . ." choked Simo.

"You leave, and my son disappears this morning? You expect me to take that as a coincidence?" Jadi roared. "Where is my son? What did you do with him?"

"Sire, he's with a lioness. I saw them. Together." Simo prayed this would be good enough to save him.

"He WHAT?" Jadi turned to look at Akasare. "Bring him back. Now!"

"And the lioness, sire?" Akasare asked.

"Cut her down."

Akasare smiled. "Yes, sire."

oOo

To anyone it would have looked like a nearly full-grown lioness and her cub, taking a walk around the Pridelands through the early morning mist that blanketed the ground. But if anyone knew anything about the Pridelands, they would have realized that the lioness was most definitely not the cub's mother.

Uwivu had no idea what was going on. Nafsi had woken her up and asked her to follow him. She'd hesitated. "I can make it an order if it makes you feel better," he'd said. So she'd followed him. The only thing that had happened was a bitter conversation.

"What did you bring me out here for?" she asked rudely.

"I just wanted to talk," he said.

"We don't have anything to talk about."

"Not really."

She looked down at him as they walked on in silence. She used to not know why she always gave him such bitter words. The other lionesses had stopped talking badly about Nafsi after Soul's Crater. She hadn't. She realized she was lying to herself when she said she didn't know why she treated him badly. It was because he represented everything she despised. He was the prince, son of the two most feared animals in the Pridelands. She hated the king and queen bitterly, and took it out on their son. But she had grown to hate herself. He didn't deserve her treatment, but she treated him like filth.

"Your parents want to kill you," she told him.

"I know."

"They want to start over, whatever that means."

"They plan to make someone else, with none of my flaws."

"Jadi's so mad at you."

"Because I haven't done a single thing that he would have since Soul's Crater." Nafsi paused. "Who made up that name?"

"I don't know."

"My father is angry because I was born wrong."

"Obviously, seeing how you're the little freak you are."

Nafsi smiled a little. "You hate me so much. I don't know exactly why." He paused. "My mother made me."

"Congratulations. You understand the facts of life now."

"No, she didn't just give birth to me. I mean she made me. Created me. I'm supposed to be her image of perfect. I can't feel happiness at all, Uwivu. Not too much sadness, either. But loneliness . . . I'm not supposed to feel it. But I do. It makes up for the sadness. It's something that just—just won't go away. I mean, I've got Grandma, but I want more. I don't know if that's natural or not. Maybe it's because she's too old. Maybe I want someone my age." He looked up at her. "You think I'm trying to make you feel sorry for me, don't you?"

"I could care less what you feel," she said bitterly, her heart melting. "It only goes to show you're an even bigger freak than I thought." More than ever she just wanted to hug him and tell him she was sorry.

"I thought you'd say that. You hate me. And I think my parents hate me, too. They're going to kill me, and make someone else. I don't know if they'll get it wrong again or not."

"And I care why?"

"Well, I have dreams. They used to be right. But they're wrong now. They show me what should have happened. You're supposed to be dead. I killed you. And I'll destroy the Pridelands."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that."

"It's true. I'll grow up in six days. On my fourth birthday. In just a few seconds, I'll be a lion. I'll still be able to restrain my emotions. But I won't. I'll kill each one of you in the den. Then I'll destroy the Pridelands. I'll make the entire Pridelands look like Soul's Crater. Stars will rain from the sky, destroying everything. Except the Great Tree. I'll burn it. The only thing left standing."

"Oh, yes. You'll get your revenge for all the little cubs that teased you, then you'll turn on the mommy and daddy that never loved you, and then you'll destroy the world that hates you _so much_."

"Not really. The cubs were supposed to have stopped the teasing when I killed you as an example. And my parents . . . they'll just die when I grow up. I'll absorb the pool. They can't live without it. I don't think they know they'll die."

"And then you'll destroy the world."

"No. Rule it." He paused. "If I had any sense at all, I'd take you with me. I'd make you the first of my private pride. But unlike the others, I'd make your life a living hell."

Uwivu bit her lip. He'd be perfectly justified in inflicting some of the pain he'd felt from her. She knew she might even be responsible for Soul's Crater. If she had helped him, been kind to him, maybe it wouldn't have happened. Maybe none of those animals would have died. She knew what Taabu was trying to do. She wasn't coddling her grandson; she was trying to keep Nafsi from turning into a horrible monster like Jadi. Uwivu had understood this for half her life, yet she still ridiculed him.

"Yes, you would try to hurt me, wouldn't you?" she said acidly. "You're no better than your father."

"It's funny. I can be some much worse. It feels so good to make others pay. Soul's Crater was a relief I needed. But I don't understand. I knocked you down once, remember? With that pet I made for you. How you nearly broke a leg falling down the ramp. That hurt me more than anything. It's because you're my friend. And I don't want to hurt you. I want to make you happy. Whatever that is."

Uwivu felt horrible.

"I just don't know what's right. Mother says I don't need friends, that they're below me, and they'll only hurt me. And they do. Grandma tells me to do exactly what I don't want, and I listen because she's my friend. But Mother says it's good to take your feelings out on others, and it does fell good to be angry at someone, but Grandma says it's bad, to not hurt others."

"So you either listen to that black bitch or some old coot who—"

"Don't you dare talk about Grandma that way."

"I'll speak how I want, your highlessness. I don't obey Jadi, and I don't obey you." She noticed the spire that housed the pool for the first time. "And we shouldn't even be here."

"I thought you didn't obey my father."

"I . . ."

"You're fine. You're with me." Nafsi steered toward the spire. "But you're scared of my father. What's fear like?"

"It's hell. He could kill me any second for his pleasure. And you'll kill me for the same reason. Oh, wait, you're going to take me away and rape me repeatedly."

"No. I told you, the dreams are wrong. I just wonder . . ." He looked into the spire, seeing the pool inside it. "Well, what's right Uwivu? Really?" She didn't answer. "Grandma might be. But my parents might be. I don't know." He sighed, walking toward the pool. "But if this works, my friends will be happy . . ."

Uwivu watched him walk into the spire, into the middle of the pool. He looked down at the pool, then turned around and grinned stupidly at Uwivu. Uwivu didn't notice the pool climbing up his body, sinking into him, until it reached his torso. "Nafsi!" she cried in horror. She leapt toward him, only to have rocks suddenly tumble down, blocking the entrance. She pounded on them, doing no good. She stepped back, looking at the barricade helplessly. She should have stopped Nafsi. She heard a laugh and turned around.

Akasare's form became visible through the morning mist. He wore a broad smile on his face. "You're not supposed to be here."

Uwivu watched in horror as his claws slid out and he licked his lips in eager apprehension. She began pounding on the rocks again. "Nafsi! Nafsi, let me in! Please, Nafsi!"

Akasare laughed as he continued forward. "I should have ended your impudence long ago." He swung back a paw. Uwivu flinched. Akasare's paw stopped as he grunted. His paw was lowered to the ground, shaking violently with the rest of his body. "No," he said defiantly. "I won't go back." He seemed to flicker for an instant, then was gone, grass simply straightening up where he had been. Uwivu stared at where he had been in disbelief. A roar suddenly ripped through the morning air. Uwivu sprinted back to Pride Rock.

oOo

Simo lied on the floor of the den. He was fine. Jadi had released him. Uchu had told him to. Simo knew, despite all of Jadi's words, who bowed to who. And his protector, his goddess, had saved him. Simo never stopped giving her thanks for the second chance that she gave him, and the opportunities to prove himself to her over and over. And she had rewarded him, more than once. He may not have had cheetahs to mate with, but she was more than willing to let him have substitutions from the den. She was his queen. He loved her, as every animal should: with fierce, unyielding devotion.

Taabu hung her head when she heard Jadi order Akasare after Nafsi. She knew it was Uwivu that had gone with him. They all knew who was missing, except for Jadi and Uchu, who never paid attention to names. They simply used the lionesses as toys, in different ways but with the same results: pleasure for them but pain for the lionesses. She looked toward Shani and Tumai. They began to talk, jarringly at first, trying to forget how quickly and suddenly Uwivu's promising life would be cut short. Taabu finally dropped her eyes to the floor, weeping. "Taabu," said Tumai, "it'll be okay. Uwivu will be in a better place. She won't have to suffer."

"It's not Uwivu. Jadi's going to kill Nafsi. And there's nothing I can do. Nothing at all."

"Why should we care about the brat?" asked Shani. "We've the oldest lionesses in the pride since Aka killed his mother off. Worry about yourself, Taabu."

"Don't you have any feelings?" asked Taabu.

"He doesn't," muttered Tumai.

"Nafsi is going to _die!_" Taabu screamed. All heads turned toward her.

Uchu looked over at Taabu. "You care?" Taabu looked away. Uchu got up and walked to her. "You care."

Taabu looked up at her. "Yes," she said defiantly.

Uchu hit her, lifting her bodily from the ground and into the wall a few feet away. Taabu groaned with pain. "You didn't give up, did you?" asked Uchu. "You kept talking to him, even after we warned you to stop." Taabu didn't answer. It felt like something had broken. Uchu shook her head. "The penalty is death." She laughed. "Not that I need a rea—"

She stopped in mid-sentence, her eyes widening in fear. She let out a roar of pain in unison with Jadi, both falling to the ground. They screamed, bodies writhing. Uchu began to melt away, a small puddle appearing on the floor of the den before disappearing completely. Jadi gave one final cry of anguish and stopped moving entirely, his body flopping to the side, dead. The den stared at them in amazement. Uchu had left no trace; only Jadi's corpse remained.

Simo stared at the place where Uchu had disappeared. "No," he whispered. She was gone. His queen was gone. He felt tears forming in his eyes. He looked up at Taabu in fury. "YOU KILLED HER!" he screamed. He leapt at Taabu. He never touched her. Lionesses leapt at him, tackling him to the ground. They bit into him, tearing at him, raking his sides, making him scream in pain. They wanted him to feel the pain for all the horrible ways that he had made them suffer, for how he had raped them, for how he had beaten them. They finally stepped back from his body, looking at the corpse that had had its legs and head detached in their rage. No one spoke.

Uwivu ran into the den minutes later. She stopped, staring at Jadi's corpse in amazement, barely noting Simo's. She asked the obvious question. "What happened?"

"They . . . they just died," said a lioness. "Just . . . died."

Uwivu stared at Jadi's body, pieces slowly coming together in her head in dawning horror. _And my parents_ . . . _they'll just die when I grow up_. . . . _They can't live without it_. Uwivu gasped and began to run back to the spire.

_Nafsi!_

oOo

Akasare looked around the dark room with fear. He heard laughter, laughter that only brought forth memories of pain and anguish. He turned to see a heavenly creature sitting, its wings spread out on the sides of its mixed feline body, slightly curled. Akasare knew it well. It was a malaiki, one of hundreds, possibly thousands, in heaven. He—for Akasare knew it was a he, there was no other way for him to tell—said, "Well, if this isn't straight ironic. I get put on duty now that my work with you's done, and you show up again." The malaiki laughed again. "Well, I know where I'll be headed next."

A rectangle appeared, and a lion stepped through, an aura shining around him. "Quiet, malaiki."

"Hey, I have a name, sir."

"Leave us."

"Yessir." The malaiki disappeared.

Akasare stared at the lion, his face disgusted, yet somewhat amused. He felt like he was looking into a mirror. "So they made you an Illuminati, did they, Taraju?"

Taraju looked at his counterpart, barely able to check his rage. "They call me Ilemi now."

"Ooh, how special. New rank, new name. Bet you've been busy. I have."

Ilemi snarled. "How could you even do those things?!" he yelled. "You killed dozens of animals, you murdered our own mother, you—" Taraju shook his head, unable to say it.

Akasare laughed. "That's right. I raped Tumai. I raped your lover. I defiled her. You know how barren she was, but I still gave her cubs. And let me tell you, it was _wonderful_. So—"

"Enough!" thundered Taraju.

"How she screamed when I did it, how she begged me to stop, how she said how much she loved me before it. You should have seen it. Or . . . you did, didn't you?" Akasare laughed. "And They didn't let you touch me, did They? Oh, you must have enjoyed seeing me take her like—"

"SHUT _UP!_" roared Ilemi. He rushed at Akasare and hit him as hard as he could, sending him through a black rectangle to his punishment. Taraju hung his head as the rectangle closed.

_Tumai_ . . .

oOo

Uwivu ran to the spire, stopping at the barricade. "Uwivu!" Uwivu turned to see her sister, Chungu, running up to her. "What is your problem?"

"Nafsi's in there!"

"Since when have you cared about him?"

"Just please help me move these rocks. Please. We have to get him out."

"Just leave him. He's more use to us in there."

Uwivu swung her paw at the rocks angrily. To her surprise, instead of holding p, the rocks crumbled apart. She looked into the cave. The dust settled enough for her to see into it. She drew in a gasp. "Nafsi!"

oOo

Nafsi lied on the ground, his breathing labored. He'd done it, He'd destroyed the pool. And he would die. But he would live just a few minutes longer. He had been weak enough to arrange that. The pool had nearly overwhelmed him; he had felt it rushing into him, attempting to force him to grow early. He'd fought desperately. And he'd won. But he prayed someone would find him now, that one of his friends would come to him to see what he had done for them. He felt pain in his body as he began to die.

The rocks in the entrance finally fell away without his power to hold them up. He saw Uwivu standing in the entrance. "Nafsi!" she gasped, and rushed to his side. "Nafsi . . . oh, please don't die. Not now." He saw her eyes tears up as the pain increased in his body.

He gave a small laugh. "I . . . knew you . . . liked me."

"Nafsi . . . don't go . . ."

He held up a small, shaking paw. "Friend . . ."

Uwivu held out a paw to talk his, his paw disappearing before she could take it, unraveling into black shards that flew a few inches up before disappearing completely. She watched in grief as the effect spread from his extremities to his torso, then finally to his head. Finally the last of him was gone. Uwivu stared at the spot where he had been, tears streaming down her face. "Nafsi," she whispered. "Friend . . ."

oOo

Taabu lifted her head up from the ground as Uwivu walked into the den. "Nafsi?" she asked gently, afraid of the answer.

"He's gone," said Uwivu.

Taabu lowered her head to the ground, wincing in pain. Something had been broken by Uchu. But she was filled with a far greater pain. "Not Nafsi . . ." She sighed as a tear leaked down her face.

"Well, now what?" asked Tumai.

"What do you mean?" asked Uwivu.

"We'll all end up with Nafsi soon. There aren't any more males. No more cubs."

"Pofu—"

"Pofu won't do it. He's chaste."

Taabu shook her head. "Then this is it, isn't it? The end for all of us."

oOo

"_Wait!" protested a cub_._ "What about the rest?"_

_Pofu turned back to the cub with a smile_._ "Don't worry," he said_._ "The story isn't over_._"_

_—TLK IV_


End file.
